What's the Worst That Can Happen?
by mapplepie
Summary: Life was going well, if you asked Naruto. So why did he listen to Kakashi of all people? Now, they've time-traveled to the past, smack dab in Minato's era when the soon-to-be Hokage was sporting a team seven of his own. Let history run it's course? Never! Kakashi-centric
1. Prologue

I've always wanted to do a time travel fic, and here we go! Time travel, Kakashi, and Minato; my three favourite things -what could go wrong?

Notes:  
1. While this first chapter is in Naruto's view, the story (or at least how much I've currently planned out) is majority in Kakashi's view/Kakashi centric. This might change, but for now keep this in mind.  
2. Please don't keep telling me how unoriginal this story is/will be._ I don't care_. This plot in particular is completely for my amusement, cuz who doesn't like Kakashi?  
3. I actually stopped reading Naruto after their Chuunin Exam, and don't really know much afterwards, so much of the facts I have of the Shippuden is from story summaries I find on Naruto wiki and whatnot. But we're traveling to the PAST so it doesn't matter much anyways (except enemy-wise). I apologize if some of my facts aren't right.

Summary: Life was going quite well, if you asked Naruto Uzumaki. So why did he have to listen to Kakashi of all people? Now, they've time traveled to the past, smack dab in Minato's era, when the soon-to-be Hokage was sporting a team seven of his own. Obsessive is mildly putting Kakashi's guilt, so don't expect him to let history run its course once again. He expects to change himself, and for the better.

* * *

**Chapter One: What do you mean, 'what's the worst that can happen'?**

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

Let's set the point straight beforehand. It's not like he _wanted_ to go, really. In fact, all things considered, he was relatively happy where he was.

So, alright, maybe it irked him that at fifteen, he was still a genin - the only one among his friends (excluding Sasuke). But that fact could've easily been dealt with by taking the next Chunin Exam. It's not like Naruto Uzumaki was going to fail, considering he was one of Konoha's strongest ninjas. He did, after all, bring Sasuke back.

Half a year earlier, right after Sasuke killed Danzou, Sakura and Kakashi rushed in to apprehend the Uchiha. Both of them failed. After watching Sakura stop her sneak attack a mere hair away from beheading Sasuke with a kunai, Naruto knew he also wouldn't be able to fulfill this mission. Like Sakura, he could never kill Sasuke. His best friend. So, instead, he brushed aside the Hokage's orders and commenced his original plan of bringing Sasuke back home.

After bashing in Sasuke's head a couple times, the Uzumaki finally did his magic and convinced the broody boy that his vengeance had been achieved, and to come home. Both Itachi and Danzou were dead. After their _chidori _and_ rasengan _collided (it gave a slight sense of deja vu, actually), Naruto almost lost hope as Sauske talked calmly with his former allies. But, the blond fox-container smile returned when Sasuke suddenly turned and attacked Zetsu, right after he called Madara out.

Madara was a slippery bastard. With the combined efforts of Naruto in Sage mode; Sasuke with Sakura behind him healing wounds and sending him chakra; and Kakashi with the Mangekyō Sharingan out, they JUST managed to do SOME harm to the "immortal" Uchiha. He disappeared, irritated and fuming mad at the damage done, with his space-time jutsu.

That was the last time they saw Madara Uchiha - or at least for the time being.

Near death, and limbs giving out, the search team slowly made their way back to Konoha with Sasuke and Karin in tow.

With Kakashi as the apparent Hokage since Danzou no longer held the position, he reappointed Sasuke as a leaf-nin, not after stripping him of his privileges. No longer was Sasuke allowed to carry any other weapon other than standard kunai in the village. He was watched twenty-four seven, and could be immobilized at any time he seemed to be a harm. Training was not allowed unless supervised. Naruto's immense trust was the only reason why the boy wasn't treated any worse.

The villagers for the most part, listened to their temporary Hokage. When Tsunade-sama awoke from her coma and retook the position, they grudgingly accepted Sasuke back. This was _only_ after Naruto whined at her for days to trust Sasuke herself.

The village of Konoha treated Sasuke with as much scorn as they had once given Naruto, if not more. Who could blame them after Sasuke tried to kill all the villagers? The girls no longer swooned after him, and Sasuke, although accepted, was left alone.

As for Sakura, although she occasionally visited Sasuke, she spent most of her days in the Konoha General Hospital as a medic-nin. No longer was she just another Medic-in-training, but instead, everyone looked up to her as second top-doctor in Kohona. In fact, they relied on her help so much, she practically lived in the hospital herself.

And the girl, Karin; not much could be said about her. She died before they could save her, still calling out for Sasuke.

But really, life wasn't so bad, with the war seemingly on a halt. The village was prospering again, and Konoha was almost back to its former glory. Yes, everything was going great, so_WHY _did he decide to listen to KAKASHI of all people!

* * *

**x-x-x**

The day started out fine as Naruto routinely called Sasuke out for a quick spar. As usual, it ended with an ANBU showing up to tell them they were causing too much ruckus. Afterwards, he went to check on Iruka-senei and his current Academy class, trying to corrupt his students. He was chased away by an angry Iruka as Konohamaru and his pals held the teacher back before he could reach the blond prankster.

Next was a visit to Sakura, and of course, interrupting her check ups and making her still-growing lists of patients wait hours more as the pink-haired girl was forced to shoo Naruto away before he could do anymore damage.

Of course, right after this was lunch at Ichiraku, as usual. As Naruto merrily made his way to the Ramen bar, Kakashi intercepted him with a "Yo."

"Care to join me for lunch, Kakashi-sensei?" the blond boy asked, not even batting an eyelash at the sudden appearance. He was used to Kakashi showing up when-ever and where-ever he wanted.

"Maybe later," the silver-haired man said, patting the boy on the head. "I was just wondering how much you knew about seals."

The boy stopped mid-stride at the word. "Fuinjutsu?" Naruto confirmed, "I studied a bit on it with Jiraya, and then after when I found out the Fourth was my dad."

"So, no?" the special jounin asked lazily.

Why was he so impatient? "I wouldn't say 'no' exactly, sensei," The blond boy denied with a huff, "I mean I know a fair amount. I'm sure I could recognize seals, if that's what you want me to do. Plus with a bit more studying, I could totally make my own! So what's this about?"

The blond fox-container wasn't given an answer. Rather, the jounin's eye just creased up in an unseen smile under the mask at the boy's response."You'll have to see it." Kakashi replied cheerfully, turning around. "Coming?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

Naruto blinked his clear, blue eyes. "Now?" At Kakashi-sensei's nod, he groaned out loud with a sulk. "What about my ramen? I was going to Ichiraku's for lunch!" he whined.

Kakashi stopped mid-stride, faced him, and gave a bright smile in response. Naruto tried not to shudder at his teacher's mischievous smirk of a smile. "Maa, I think you can skip out on lunch once in a while, Naruto. Don't you want to look good for the ladies?" he said happily before continuing down the road.

Naruto froze. "Are you calling me fat?" Kakashi continued on his way, seemingly oblivious to his student's cries. "...Sensei? Hey, Kakashi-sensei? I'm not fat, really! Really!"

At his teacher's non-response, Naruto raced to catch up.

**x**

"A rock." Naruto deadpanned, "I skipped lunch and ran all that way so you could show me a rock."

"It's a very special rock." Kakashi corrected. Somewhere between Leaf and Cloud Country, the silver-haired jounin stumbled among this rock when he was making his way back home from his mission.

Naruto lifted an unamused eye at his teacher, "What's so special about it?"

"Ahh, that's a good question." The teacher said airily.

The blond demon container stared at him incredulously, "You mean you don't know? So we really did just come here to stare at a stupid rock!"

"I didn't say that." The 'stupid' rock was about a meter high, shaped rather like an inverted pyramid. It sat deep in the forest on an uneven terrain of rocks and upheaved dirt. Trees surrounded the place like needles on a porcupine.

"So…?" Naruto urged.

Kakashi stepped forward and touched the large boulder. "Just watch." He released chakra out of his hand, and the floor lit up in a pale red colour. "It looks to me like those are seals on the floor. I landed on the rock on my way back, and it sucked up my chakra through my feet. The ground lit up in seals like right now."

Naruto dropped down, studying the seals. "I can't see them very clearly; it's too light." Kakashi poured in more chakra, and the seals lit up brighter, expanding further around them.

The teacher paused, "I could use a little help here. Not all of us have unlimited Kyuubi chakra to assist." he said pointedly, tapping his finger on the stone.

"Why are we doing this again?" Naruto asked, dropping down beside Kakashi, for once the voice of reason, "I mean, it could be dangerous." Not that that ever stopped him before, of course. Naruto didn't know the meaning of danger, but Kakashi?

The jounin grinned at him a little guiltily. "It seems rather interesting, don't you think? Besides, it's best we figure out what these do before Madara or anyone else finds it. I don't want more casualties than we have to in this war. I just want it to end." he said solemnly. Naruto nodded at his words. Yeah, that's what everyone hoped by this point. Madara could be back anytime.

The blond held a hand to the stone, calling up Kyuubi's power. "Are you sure we'll be fine, sensei?" the boy asked hesitantly. There was still doubt on his mind, and his gut was telling him 'no'.

He received a smile in return. "Bah, I've got loads of experience, and the Kyuubi won't let anything happen to you; what's the worst that can happen?" And they both forced their chakras into the rock.

The pale red slowly shone brighter, until it was as red as blood, lighting the floor. Strokes of seal patterns, weaved in complicated manners, ran far down the forest until it was out of their sight. Naruto watched it expand, eyes widening as he saw it was larger than he expected. The silver-haired jounin finally looked a little worried about the situation, but otherwise stayed still.

The wind suddenly picked up. It grew violent, hurling whichever way it pleased. It whipped and slashed brutally at their skins, threatening to leave red marks the next day.

"I'm stopping!" A messy-haired blond yelled over the howling wind. He tried to let go, but his hands stayed firmly attached. His chakra involuntarily spilled into the rock, as it sucked it up greedy. "It's stealing my chakra! I can't let go!"

A glance at Kakashi showed that the man felt the same as he did. The masked head drooped as the man quickly lost all his energy. His wincing eye showed more emotion than the lazy man ever allowed it to. "Sorry, Naruto," the man hissed out, before he dropped down. His body collapsed, and mind headed into oblivion, hand still attached in place.

"KAKASHI!" Naruto screamed. He tried to thrash around, but his body stood still. His mind had no control over his actions. "Damn it, let met GO!" His attempt to blast himself out with chakra, but it failed as the rock merely absorbed it all. "I'm not dying here; I'm not!" He cried determinedly. All resistance failing, Naruto had no choice but to do the opposite. He charged his chakra at it, hoping to overload the rock, making it destroy itself.

He felt winded as his chakra was pulled out faster than anticipated. For once, Naruto was glad for his enormous amount of chakra -and then, it turned red. Like toxin, raw Kyuubi chakra flowed out, stinging his coils along the way. He'd used the red chakra before, but never this amount, never this quickly! His heart rate accelerated, felt his stomach drop, stifled a scream as he felt like his soul was being ripped out. His blue eyes widened in pain, then drooped closed, feeling the drain from chakra-depletion. He tried to stay awake, but it was a futile attempt. His eyes flashed over at Kakashi and his prone form on the ground, wishing for someone to find them. "This is all your fault, Kakashi." He murmured out, before blackness swallowed him up whole.

There was a flash of red light; '_lightning'_ the villagers close by thought, and the two unconscious bodies disappeared from sight. There left no sign of a seal anywhere, and no residue chakra lingered to be traced. In short, there was nothing there to indicate anything happened in the forest. All was left was a meter tall rock sitting innocently, looking as suspicious as a tree in a forest.


	2. We're Back

The main pairing that you'll probably see in the whole fic would be MinatoxKushina, but there's not gonna be much of that anyways.

* * *

**Chapter Two: We're Back**

* * *

The ground on his face was not a happy feeling. Or maybe it was the mud he was lying in?

"That's the last time I ever listen to you." A muffled voice to his right groaned out, spitting ever second word. "I think I ate enough sand to fill Gaara's gourd." There was a silence greeting his words. "Kakashi-sensei?" the voice asked hesitantly.

Kakashi didn't bother to move from his position of lying face-down on the ground. "Go away, Naruto." His head was pounding, and the ground was oddly tilting. He had barely enough chakra to sense if there was any immediate danger around them. No, scratch that; he was _seriously_ chakra exhausted and couldn't sense a thing.

There was a shuffle as the boy beside him, Naruto, sat up. "What do you mean, 'go away'! You're the one who got us into this mess in the first place. ARGH, my head!" He clutched his blond hair in his hands and groaned. "What the hell happened?"

The jounin refused to answer, or even acknowledge his student's words. "Sensei!" Naruto whined. He gave his teacher a shove with his legs, turning the man.

_Ahh, fresh air, and I didn't even need to move. _"Naruto, don't abuse your teacher." Kakashi breathed out, staring into the now-visible sky.

"Whatever." The boy huffed. He frowned as he concentrated on the view around him. "Hey, sensei, this isn't where we were before…"

Kakashi eye whirled as he looked around from the ground. _Sky. Sun. Clouds. Wait, where were all the trees? Why am I muddy if it hasn't rained in weeks?_

"Where's that stupid rock?" Naruto asked suddenly. He shakily stood up. "Damn it, sensei! I knew we shouldn't have touched that thing. Where are we now?" He took a step. "I'm going to look around."

The Copy-nin stopped him with a hiss. "Naruto, I don't know about you, but I have no chakra to spare. If you leave and get attacked, you just might die."

The boy halted, sliding back on the floor, muscle thanking him every second. "I know, but we can't just sit here and wait!" The boy replied in a whine. "We don't even know where '_here'_ is. Besides, the Kyuubi helps me regenerate chakra faster than normal ninjas."

"Not fast enough." Kakashi rebutted.

"But-"

Naruto's complain was interrupted by the vibrations of footsteps. "Naruto," the elite jounin said. The boy nodded, also hearing the approaching travelers and understanding his teacher's unspoken words of 'stay alert'.

"Should we hide?"

Kakashi shook his head, "If they're ninjas, they'll sense us anyways. Plus I hardly have any energy to move. Let's just hope they're traveling merchants." They both knew the chances of that were slim, but hoping was the only thing they could do.

"Now what?" Naruto asked.

His teacher shrugged. There really was only one thing they could do at this point beside hope. "Play dead."

* * *

It had been three years since the blond had been assigned his team. They'd done all sorts off missions ranking from D-rank to B-rank. Heck, a couple A-ranks even managed to sneak their way in. He thought he'd seen almost every scenario possible in life. Yet, none of that prepared him for his little raven-haired chunin's comment of "Hey, there're two dead people lying in the middle of the road!"

Alright, dead people lying around weren't a big deal. He'd seen plenty of those. But in an area clearly undisturbed with no residue chakra floating around, and no signs of a recent battle, how did two chakra depleted ninjas come to be?

A biting voice broke his train of thought. "They're not dead, Idiot, there's still a faint pulse of chakra in them."

"I-I knew that!" The other boy yelled indignantly. He ran up the first man in front of him who was coated in a layer of mud. He shook the man, "WAKE UP! What are you doing in the middle of the road?"

On the ground, Kakashi kept quiet as the oddly familiar voice continued screaming in his ear. Now where did he hear this annoy voice before?

Footsteps grew louder as the other members of the group came closer to the loud brat beside him. "Geeze," the boy continued, "how can you even breathe under that mud-caked mask? Don't worry; I'll help you take it off!" The boy's fingers inched towards his mask.

Before he could even touch it, Kakashi's hand snapped up and grabbed him by the wrists. His lone visible eye creased as he gave the boy an eye-smile. "Yo," He said airily, as if he had_not_ just been playing dead a minute ago. His smile didn't quite reach his lips, but no one could see it under the mask anyways. It was the best he could do considering just WHO was standing in front of him.

"Do you mind unhanding my student?" a voice asked from behind. His tone was light, almost playful, but Kakashi could hear the threat under it. Kakashi's throat caught, at the voice._No way._

He turned his head around, winced as the loaming figure shifted; sun, blinding him. He blinked. His vision cleared introducing him to sunshine blond hair. Clear, sky blue eyes narrowed at him. _How?_

"Sorry," he muttered, letting go.

The boy rubbed his wrist as he stepped back for his teacher. "Smooth, Obito." A voice drawled from further away.

"At least I woke him up, Kakashi." The first boy retorted back. Their bickering confirmed the suspicions of the jounin on the ground. But how did this happen, was a different story.

The man, most likely Minato, his old (should've been deceased!)sensei, squatted beside him, giving Kakashi a hand to help him up. "Who are you?" Minato asked. Kakashi's blatant lack of chakra clearly gave no threat to the blond.

"I don't -" Kakashi suddenly remembered Naruto, who was still lying down, uncertain if he was allowed to talk. "Na-" he cut off again. Perhapes it wasn't a good idea if he called him Naruto in front of the boy's dad. What if that changed the future? What if in the future Minato refused to call his baby Naruto because of this? "Na, wake up." He prodded his student beside him.

Naruto groaned and pretended to just awaken. "What happened?" The boy's eyes opened, and then widened as he was was greeted with the sight of the Fourth Hokage. He froze and paled a bit. Naruto had heard the childish voices a while ago yelling the names 'Kakashi' and 'Obito', but it didn't click why it sounded so familiar until just now. They were names of Kakashi's old team. And their teacher was the Fourth. _His dad_.

The Fourth, or rather the Jounin, seeing as he was yet to be appointed that position, misunderstood the boy's pale face. "Don't worry; we won't harm you. I just want to know what happened to you two," he placated.

"I… don't know." The blond on the floor said hesitantly, unsure of what he could say. He glanced at his teacher for guidance. Said man was too busy staring at his no-longer-dead teammates to even notice his look. He gave Kakashi a kick. "What happened?"

_Good question. _Kakashi looked over; possible excuses ran through his mind. "We were on our way to Konoha," he said slowly, "then …" The sudden image of Kisame's sword in his mind gave him an idea to explain the loss of chakra, "We were surrounded by cloaked figures. I told them we would surrender since they clearly outnumbered us. I heard Na scream and fall forward. The next thing I knew, something hit me from behind, and I could feel like I was getting weaker and weaker fast, and lost conscious." He finished with a mental pat on the shoulders for himself. That sounded plausible.

Minato looked over at them. "That's all?" he asked, skeptically.

"As far as I can remember."

After a quick mental debate with himself, Minato grabbed Kakashi and slung his arms around his shoulders. "Well, we were just heading back to Konoha." He confessed. "We'll take you two with us in case anyone else attacks."

Naruto grinned as Obito and Rin ran over to help him up. "Thanks," he said.

"No problem, and we should probably get you two to the hospital."

After a few meters into their hike back to the hidden village, Kakashi passed out as the chakra exhaustion finally hit him, his adrenaline over. Naruto followed suit not a minute later.

* * *

**Much later that day:**

When you see white, hospital is your best bet. And yes, that's exactly where Kakashi found himself when he opened his eyes next.

He gave a soft groan, rolling towards his side. To his left, Naruto laid on the adjacent bed, eyes already opened. The boy looked over. "Finally, your up!" he cried. "Took you long enough! They've been trying to question me all day, but I didn't know what I could say!"

They, apparently, were in a private room in the Konoha General Hospital. Visitors were not allowed, and ANBUs hiding discreetly in every shadow of the room. The only person who Naruto had talked to so far was the Hokage.

As if on cue, the hospital door opened, and the Third Hokage strode in. Minato, the one who had found them, was closely behind.

"Excellent, you're awake now." The Third said as soon as he walked in. Kakashi could help but stare at the man. He had watched the old man fall by the hands of Orochimaru, that bastard. He had been there for the old man's funeral. And now, here, in front of his eyes, was that dear old Sarutobi Hiruzen, live in the flesh, ans as healthy as ever.

"You look as though you've seen a ghost." The man commented offhandedly as Kakashi continued to stare. "Your friend there did the same thing." He said, motioning towards Naruto.

"We're just shocked we actually made it to Konoha, Hokage-sama."

The Third nodded thoughtfully. "And why exactly did you come here for?" He stared at the two boys in front of him. After washing off layers and layers of dried-mud from their skins, their appearance gave the Hokage quite a shock. The first one who awoken had blond hair, just as blond as Minato's. His eyes were also as blue, but a just a shade darker. He could easily pass of as Minato's brother -twin, even, if he wanted to, if he was older.

Sarutobi had to double-take at the other man. For a second, the old man thought Minato somehow managed to bring back the late Hatake Sakumo from the dead. A second glance showed that the boy had a slimmer jaw line, and probably a few years younger than Minato.

"We're travelers." The Sakumo look-alike replied.

That was a convenient story. "And names, if you will?"

Kakashi thought fast. "Kabumo. And that's …" He looked over at Naruto, letting him choose his own alias.

The blond gave a jump, "Oh, uh, Naru -uh, Narui?"

The silver-haired jounin grimaced at his student's hesitance, as the other two present looked suspiciously over at them. _We'll have to work on Naruto's lying skills._

The Third Hokage looked as though he wanted to comment, but changed his mind. He looked over at he silver-haired man, new mask in place of the old one that the nurse threw out due to the grime it accumulated when they found him. "You look awfully similar to a certain clan we have here in Konoha." He stated calmly.

The jounin winced internally, but forced a smile on his face. "Really? That's why we headed to Konoha in the first place. I heard my brother was living here, and wanted to visit. -Or at least I'm hoping you're talking about Hatake Sakumo? Our parents split when we were young - I left with my mom."

Kakashi, now dubbed Kabumo, looked at the old Hokage who nodded thoughtfully at his words. Kakashi knew his father, Sakumo, was never one to talk about family, especially after his mother died. In fact, he went as far as _avoiding _anything that had to do with family, little Kakashi included. The man always gave him empty promises, and left for missions as soon as he got back. His childhood sucked.

"Well, Sakumo never mentioned about any relatives, but I can not ignore the similarities of your appearances." Sarutobi looked as though he would've liked to light up his pipe, but the Hospital banned his smoking on the premises. "And your friend there?" he asked, hand waving over at Naruto. "He wouldn't speak until you were awake."

This was slightly trickier. What excuse could he give? "Maa, Narui there's paranoid. He was probably afraid you were enemies, and would kill one of us after he gave up information." He waved his hand lazily.

Both Minato and the Hokage's eyes narrowed. "And what kind of enemies would you have?" the blond Jounin asked suspiciously. "And while I'm at it, care to explain the Konoha hitai-ate you both were found with?"

_Shoot._ "Well… Er…"

Naruto, who was mulling it over for a while, spoke up suddenly. "Actually," Eyes focused on the younger blond. Two pairs suspicious, and one wary at what excuse Naruto would give. "My dad was a Konoha shinobi, I think." The boy stuck a tongue out between his lips, clearly a look of deep thought, trying to remember facts. Kakashi knew he was trying his hardest spout excuses on the spot. "I don't really remember him, but my mom gave me the hitai-ate, and I've treasured it since then. …hmm, or maybe it was her's; I never asked. Well, anyways, she died, and then I met Kak- Kabumo-sensei while I was wandering aimlessly around by myself. He taught me practically all I know. Kabumo, he, uh, actually found his hitai-ate on a dead guy. I told him to take it 'cause I thought it might make getting into Konoha easier if we somehow showed we had something connected to it? My fault, really…"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Their interrogators nodded, and went on to their next question. "And just what village are you from?"

"We're travelers." Kakashi repeated, hoping he wouldn't have to elaborate. He was wrong.

"Ah, but now that you're both healed, we can see that you both have much too high amounts of chakra for a civilian. Therefore you both must be shinobi. But where were you taught?" the old Hokage pressed. "This boy says he learnt from you, but where did _you_ learn it, Hatake?"

"I-" Kakashi's thoughts whirled. There was too much to risk if he just named a random nation. The fact that he was no longer a shinobi of it would surely label him as a missing nin, and nations kept track of their missing ninjas. The possibility that the Hokage would check was relatively high.

Kabumo decided on the stubborn approach. "Does it really matter?" he asked dryly. "I hated being there, and left the first opportunity I could. After that, I picked up my skills from ninjas I came across in my journeys." He gave a sigh. "And then I met this kid here, who told me about his parents. And once I got him up to a decent level, I figured we'd head on over to Konoha to see if he had any relatives left. I mean, traveling is fun and all, but it gets lonely after a while, and I want to see how my brother is doing. Plus the way Narui whines - it makes you really want to cherish what little family you have left."

"Hey, you should cherish your precious people!" Naruto yelled from the side, confirming Kakashi's point.

The Third Hokage's face sobered. It was a little late for that. "Ah, I'm afraid Hatake Sakumo's no longer with us. He died a long time ago." He said solemnly.

Kakashi's shock was not all fake. According to the events he witnessed, he knew his father was already dead. Yet somewhere in his mind, he hoped that he was wrong. It was childish, and useless, but he hoped he was wrong, and that his dad was still alive. He wasn't. Kakashi grieved for his old man once more.

"He had a son, however. Hatake Kakashi. Looks a lot like him." The old man continued, "He's the sole member of his clan now, here in Konoha."

The silver-haired jounin closed his eyes, willing the sudden memories that bombarded him to go away. He remembered the pain, the sorrow, the pity, the hate. He remember how inhumane he was by this time -a heartless robot; a tool with nothing to live for. He remembered how that cost him _everything_. He pushed everything away, and everything left. For years after, he was nothing more than an empty shell.

Kakashi stared the old man in the eye, hoping his sincerity showed. "I -we wanted to just visit Konoha, but I changed my mind." The old man's eyes bore on him, and he struggled not to flinch under the stare. "I want to be there for m- my nephew. I want to stay - be a Konoha shinobi."

"Oh?"

Naruto spoke up from the adjacent bed. His eyes were shadowed, remembering his own childhood. "It sucks," he said in a pained voice, "when you're all alone; when no one understands." His thoughts wandered towards their old broody teammate. "Friends are nice, but sometimes, nothing beats family. It's a connection that can't be replaced."

The chair Sarutobi was on creaked as he got up. "I see." He turned towards the door. "For now, please take your time to recuperate in the hospital. Allow me some time to deal with your requests." He left the room, Minato following closely behind, stopping only once, his eyes lingering on the sadden form of Naruto's.

As their footsteps descended down the hall, Naruto stared after his father's vacant spot. He spoke only two words, but the emotions behind it told the whole story. "He's alive." Naruto whispered.

Kakashi smiled softly, his own emotions barely kept under control, "Yes, he is."

* * *

Sarutobi lit his pipe, back in his office. Minato stood in front of his desk as the old man stared out his tower window.

"What did you think about that?" the Hokage asked wearily.

"Well," the blond started hesitantly, "we _are_ in a middle of a war. We can't just accept what everyone says at face value."

"But?" The old man could hear the pause at the end of Minato's sentence.

The Namikaze frowned. "But - maybe I'm too soft - but I don't think all of that was a lie. I could feel their emotions - their sadness when they're talking about being alone. And that Hatake -Kabumo, he honestly want to help Kakashi." His face hardened. "But they're not giving us the whole truth. Not about their history."

Minato glanced at his sensei's sensei, who nodded at his words. "If you were Hokage, how would you handle this case, Minato?" the old man asked him.

His sky blue eyes widened. "Me?" Minato asked, before he forced himself into attention and thoughtfully reviewed the information. "Well, given by his looks, that man _is_ a Hatake, but that doesn't say much for his loyalties. The other boy is completely unknown. With a war going on, they might as well be spies, but why or how did they leave them chakra exhausted in the middle of the road where _anyone_ could get at them?"

He mulled over their stories. "By saying they're travelers, they're tying themselves to no nation. Yet, they both have Konoha hitai-ate, showing that they want to be in ours -stolen or not. Or maybe they even killed the men themselves to get the protector? Yet, wouldn't that only make us suspicious of them? Why do it?" He ran a hand through his hair in thought, "They've offered themselves to Konoha, but is that only to get closer to our shinobi?"

The man spent minutes more running ideas through his mind.

"Well?" The Third asked.

Minato cleared his throat. "As a Hokage, I would accept them. Especially with the war so close, we will need all the man-power we can get. Although, I would keep ANBU assigned to keep an eye on them at all time." He rubbed his chin, "Hmm, as soon as possible, I would like to see where their strength is at so I know what to expect of them if they _are _a threat - keeping in mind they could be suppressing much of it. We need someway to test their loyalty too."

He glanced over at the old Hokage, who chewed on his pipe before nodding at him. Minato let out a breathe he didn't know he was holding, and gave the old man a pearly grin, feeling as though he'd passed a test of sorts.

His grin suddenly diminished, "As a teacher, however," He started. Sarutobi looked over at him, "As Kakashi's teacher," the blond specified, "I want them to stay so Kabumo can, if he can, help Kakashi recover. It's unhealthy, what that boy puts himself through. And that other blond-"

"Family?" Sarutobi asked, cutting him off. The resemblance between the two blonds was really too great to ignore.

Minato rubbed his hair. "Well, I don't _think_ so. I don't know much about my _whole_ family history. I just think I can trust him. Just a gut feeling, really." He said sheepishly.

The old man's eyes soften. "Maybe I've become too soft as well, my boy." At the blond's glance, Sarutobi nodded, "We'll let them stay. Minato, since your team found them, I want you to keep your eyes on them during the day. I'll arrange a time for them to show their skills, and determine their ranks. Kabumo -I think he'd want to stay with his nephew. As for Narui-"

"I'll take him." The Namikaze said before realizing he'd spoken out loud.

"Ah? You will, Minato?"

The man blush lightly, "When we were talking about family connections, I felt something, and I hoped, maybe-"

"Maybe he was related to you?" the old man finished for him. At his agreement, the Third continued, "Don't let that get in the way of your judgment of them. For all we know, they're spies who are really good at acting. And they picked a shinobi who looks like you just for this case."

"Yes sir." Minato acknowledged. He knew that might be the case, but he could hope, couldn't he?

"Excellent, we'll inform the two when the medics deem them fit enough to leave the hospital." Minato nodded and left, hearing the unofficial dismissal.

* * *

**Days later:**

"Ne, Sensei, what are they like?" A raven-haired boy asked, jumping around his teacher in a hyper state. The stupid nurses stuck a 'no visitors' sign on the door, and he, after many fruitless attempts, failed to sneak in to talk to the two.

Team Seven met in their usual training spot in area 57. They were waiting there for their two visitors who were discharged from the hospital that day.

"I don't see why one of them has to stay with me, Sensei." Kakashi bit out, ignoring Obito's chattering. He couldn't for the life of him figure out what went through his teacher's mind. Two unknown ninjas allowed to stay in Konoha - alright, fine. One unknown ninja staying with him, in _his_ apartment - heck no! Minato wouldn't even tell him who they were!

Obito stopped jumping. "What? Hey, why does the bastard get to live with one of them! I found them!"

"Take him."

"Kakashi!" the blond jounin teacher reprimanded. "He's staying with you."

"Why _him_!" Obitio whined. Why did the bastard get everything? "He doesn't even want him!"

The silver-haired chuunin glowered at his teacher. "Thats what _I_ want to know."

The man had the audacity to laugh at them both. "Now, now, Kakashi. You'll see."

Kakashi glanced at his watch. "Shouldn't they be here by now?" His teacher hummed in response, and Kakashi glared at the thought of having another Obito in Konoha.

At that moment, two vaguely familiar men could been seen walking towards them. Kakashi squinted to look. One looked awfully like his sensei, with bright blond hair. Yet, he was decked out in orange - yes, _ORANGE _of all colours. Was he _really_ a ninja? The other one made his heart stop.

_No… It couldn't be..._

Kakashi lunged at the silver-haired man, forcing the orange boy beside him to jump aside in shock. _That_ man just stood there, watching Kakashi get closer. "_How dare you!"_ Kakashi hissed out. Kunai were in hand, posed to attack. "You_ had _to die, didn't you? Leaving me all alone in your shame. _Coward."_

A yellow flash grabbed his hand before he could stab down. "Kakashi." Kakashi stiffened at his teacher's words. Slowly, his anger fogged mind cleared up. His dad was _dead_. He _saw_him die. This wasn't him. This _couldn't_ be him. His mind whirled in the thought.

"Kakashi, meet Kabumo and Narui."

The young Kakashi stared at the men before him. _Kabumo?_ Now that he had a closer look, the man looked rather a lot like him than his dad. - well that is if you look past the fact that barely a third of his face was shown.

"And these are my little students: Kakashi, Obito and Rin." Minato continued with the introductions.

There were greetings exchanged all around, when Rin finally asked the important question on everyone's minds. "Why do you look so much like Kakashi, Kabumo?" She blushed as she stared openly at the man, wondering if this could be how Kakashi would looked like in a few more years.

The two time travelers, both dressed in their usual clothes (thankfully washed by the nurses in the hospital) looked over at her. The taller, older one, Kabumo, stared at her, his one visible eye crinkled up in a lazy smile. His tone and actions were just as lackadaisical. "He's my nephew," he said, hand posed to flop on top of the young Kakashi's silver hair.

The younger boy dodged it efficiently with a, "What do you mean nephew?" in a suspicious tone.

"You know, a son of one's brother or sister."

"I _know_ what it means!" The little genius snapped. "My dad didn't have any siblings!"

Kabumo waved a lazy gloved hand dismissively. "Did he ever tell you that?"

"No," Kakashi said grudgingly. His father talked about a granpa a few times, and occasionally his mom, but was usually quite tight lipped about family.

The man smiled brighter at him. "Well, nice to meet you, kid. I'm Kabumo; Sakumo's younger brother, and your uncle by default. Now I'm told I'm living with you, brat? Show the way."

Kakashi looked at Minato who just smiled right back at him. "Go ahead, Kakashi. We'll meet up again tomorrow. These two are on our team from now on." He gave a cheery laugh. "Lucky me; I get a five men team!"

Kakashi kick up dirt in disgust. Great, more people to pull him down. Wasn't Obito enough of an idiot? He started down the road. "Are you coming or not?" he all but snarled in anger.

If possible, his _uncle_'s face just drew up in a larger smile as he followed, "Calm, kid. A _good_ ninja needs patience." Kakashi growled in response and stormed the way back home as Obito and that new orange kid's laughter echoed in the Training Area behind.

"I hate you."

"Honesty is good." The man sang back, smile never leaving his face.

He really, _really_ hated him.

* * *

Later that night, Kakashi the elder, and Naruto met up at the relatively new Ramen bar, Ichiraku. In the back of their minds, they kept track of the ANBU in the building beside them, watching.

"So, how's Sensei?" Kabumo asked.

The boy gave a happy laugh. "Man, his house is huge compared to my apartment! And it's right near the forest! So easy to jump down to train!" He stopped his shouting, and his face transformed into a soft, pained smile, "I've seen that place before. Back home. All boarded up," he said. "I never knew it was _his_ place." His voice softened another notch. "Maybe there were still pictures of them inside."

The elite jounin patted the boy's back. "Well, we're here now. Might as well make the most of this."

Something in his teacher's tone made the blond haired demon-container look up. "Are you planning something?"

"What?" the man cried innocently.

"Kaka- _Kabumo-_sensei…"

Kakashi sighed, "Do you expect me to just sit here and watch history repeat itself? The fact _we're_ here, it's already changed. Might as well change it all they way now."

"I agree."

The silver-haired man blinked. "Wait, you do?"

Naruto shrugged, "I'm not Sakura. If I can save someone, then I will - regardless of future consequences. If she was here, she'd probably pound me to the ground at my recklessness, but I'll save my precious people - and yours - not matter what it takes. I can deal with the consequences when they appear."

Kakashi grinned at his student. That was how Naruto was like, and he wouldn't replace him with anyone. "Thanks, Narui." He crackled slightly a moment later. "First, I have to work on Kakashi. I never knew I was such a brat when I was that age."

Narui glanced up at his jounin teacher. The man's face was calm, his posture lazy, and his eye was crinkled in a smile, but Naruto couldn't help but shiver. He _knew_ that tone, that look. And suddenly, Naruto was afraid for the kid, 'cause Kakashi, like all the other jounin he knew, was crazy. Perhaps not as crazy as Gai-sensei, but he was almost there. And frankly, you DON'T want to catch the attention of crazy jounin. _Ever._


	3. Let's Begin

Kakashi groaned as his alarm rank sharply in his ear. He groggily got out of bed, pushing his cover aside, and checked the time. Six-thirty on the dot. That gave him thirty minutes, more than enough time, to get dressed and meet his team at seven o'clock sharp.

He didn't live in the old Hatake house anymore. After his father's death, he moved to an apartment, unable to stand being alone in the old house. It was a small, cozy apartment with three main rooms - the bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room. It was big enough for one person. Two, and it was slightly cramped. He did, however, have fun ordering his uncle to sleep on the couch (not that he would admit it, of course).

Kakashi sniffed the air as he opened his bedroom door. Was that food he smelt?

"Finally up, are we?" a lazy voice drifted through the air.

The silver-haired boy looked up to see his uncle in an apron, holding two plates of pancakes in his hands. "Figured you might want some breakfast," The man said.

The boy froze in place, staring at the scene before him. Somewhere in his mind, he remembered this sight, this feeling. It was… comforting? Kakashi shook his head, clearing the idea out of his mind. No; he was a ninja. A fine shinobi of Konoha. He was a tool for the Hokage. He didn't need useless emotions tying him down.

He gave his uncle a minute nod. Yeah, the man was just doing his job; it was the obligation of a family member to take care of the younger; nothing more. "Thank you," he said neutrally.

He eyed the pancakes as though they would leap at him at any moment. It was odd, not having to make breakfast himself. He'd been forced to be independent since early in life. Having homemade food appear before him without needing to do work himself seemed almost… _foreign. _"You're supposed to put a fork in it then bring it up to your mouth. Chew, swallow, and repeat," his uncle, Kabumo, reminded him, his lone visible eye already in a U-shaped crease of a smile. "Just thought I'd remind you. You'll get the hang it of eventually," Kabumo commented, as the younger boy continued to stare.

As the chuunin's eyes narrowed into a glare, the older Hatake gave him a pat on the head. "Well, I guess if it's too embarrassing, I'll give you and your food some privacy." He got up, and Kakashi noticed that somehow, the man was already finished eating. Kabumo held up a tired hand in a mock wave, "See you on the training ground."

As he left, Kakashi stared after him, alone at the table once more. The table suddenly seemed to grow larger, and he felt _something_ in his chest he couldn't recall enough to describe. It was gone by the time he hooked his finger around his mask to pull it down and inspect the food before him.

**x-x-x**

"He's late again," Kakashi pointed out.

Minato consoled, "It's only been an hour, Kakashi. Obito will be here soon."

The silver-haired boy rolled his eyes as his teammate, as always, made them wait. Minato sat on the ground with that orange boy and Rin talking about their day. Didn't anyone else mind?

Speaking of which, where was his uncle anyways?

A bush on his left shook, and Kakashi tensed, looking over at it, kunai in hand. A mob of black hair popped out, orange goggles under them, over the face of one, Obito Uchia.

"Sorry!" The boy yelled, "There was a black cat in my path so I had to take another one, and…"

Kakashi threw up his hands in anger, "You liar. You're a shinobi, follow the _shinobi rules and regulations_!"

"Don't be like that, Kakashi," Minato said.

"He's a _chuunin_, not some pre-genin who spends their day playing. He needs to act like one."

The orange boy shrugged. "It's no biggie," Narui joined in, "Besides, it was only an hour!"

"Just an hour? Are you saying we should ignore regulations? A ninja a diligent and _on time._ And it's not just one day; it's an hour late _every single day!_"

The orange clad boy let out a short laugh, "Exactly; just an hour. 'Sides, Kabumo-sensei's not here yet."

Kakashi tsk'ed, annoyed. Where was his uncle? A_ Hatake_ should know better than to come late. And he left BEFORE he did.

The air beside him swirled unnaturally, and a second later, Kabumo in his silver-haired glory appeared with a soft, "Yo."

With a kunai in hand posed to stab, Kakashi glared at his sad-excuse of an uncle. "You're late."

The man merely smiled at him, dismissing his accusation with a simple wave of a hand. "Well, you see, there was this black cat, and it crossed my path, and we all know that's bad luck, so I turned around and took a bath to rid of the curse. Then while I was at it, I decided to make some brunch to eat since I was at the apartment anyways." He ended the story with a bright smile.

"I told you there was a cat," Obito murmured beside his sensei. Kakashi stood, blinking to digest the story.

"Hey, you're early!" Narui shouted from behind, startling the young silver-haired boy out of his stupor.

_Early? He was more than an hour late._

The older man's eye kept the happy crease, "Yeah, I figured it was a special day, so my obligatory three hours tardy streak could wait for another day."

_THREE hours?_

Minato-sensei obviously felt the same way. "You're usually three hours late?" he asked warily.

"At _least_!" The other sunshine blond answered. "The longest he's kept us- me waiting for is five hours."

"Five!" Rin exclaimed. She was annoyed enough that Obito usually kept them waiting for an hour, but five? "The longest we've ever needed to wait for Obito is two hours! What do you do to be five hours late?"

"He gets lost on the road of life," Narui answered with a grin. Who knew making fun of his sensei could be this much fun?

"Maa, don't forget Narui, I stop to help little old ladies carry their bags across the street too." Kabumo didn't even look ashamed.

Kakashi stared incredulously at his uncle. That was another one of Obito's pitiful excuses as well.

Minato-sensei stood up, dusting off his pants, "Err, I'm glad we're all vigilant shinobi of Konoha, but getting back at the task I had planned for today…" His ninjas snapped into attention.

* * *

Training with the Yellow Flash was just like how Kabumo remembered it to be. The man was kind and helpful, but also strict when it was needed. Minato-sensei was intelligent, curious, and always looking for a challenge. The second day at Training Area 57, and he already asked for a mock fight.

"You feel up to it, Kabumo?" Of course he did.

"Oh oh!" An orange figure ran up to him, "Let me, let me!" Naruto jumped up and down in excitement. He wanted to fight his dad.

"Uh, well…" The man began.

"Let him." Kabumo insisted, "I'll fight you some other time." It was better like this. While Naruto wasn't exactly chakra exhausted, he did still have less than usual. Hopefully that would stop the boy from fighting too hard and show Minato things he shouldn't know.

Kakashi glanced over at Naruto walking over from the three younger shinobi. The blond gave him a small nod in understanding, and then lit up at the idea of fighting his dad.

_Don't mess up, Naruto._

The older blond looked up, a grin mirrored on his face. "You ready, kid?"

"You bet'cha, old man!" Narui cheered, cracking his knuckles, "On your mark!"

Minato chuckled, "Old man? I'll show you old." And true to his namesake, in a flash of yellow, he was gone. The fight officially began.

**x-x-x**

"So-o, how much do you want to bet Narui's gonna loose to our Sensei?" Obito asked, stretching on the grass.

"Of course he will," Kakashi replied.

"Well, Narui seems quite strong too, you know," Rin added.

They looked over at Kabumo who's attention seemed focused in a suspicious orange book. He didn't even twitch under their little stares.

"Well?" Obito pressed.

Kabumo flipped a page. "Well what?" he finally asked.

"Who do you think is gonna win? Our Sensei's really strong, you know! He can whoop anyone in less than a second!"

Kabumo gave a little hum in response. "Ahh, well, Narui's an idiot," He said idly, without looking up.

Naruto looked over, "Hey! I heard that, Sensei! Who're you calling an idiot? I'll-"

Minato took Narui's distraction as a time to attack. With a swift kick, Naruto was launched to the ground, ten feet away. Naruto spat out grass from his mouth. "Hey, I wasn't ready." He whined, but was up and rushing for Minato less than a second after.

"What'd I tell you?" Kabumo sighed.

In the field, the two blonds duked it out, trading blow for blow. Naruto was naturally fast. Not nimble, but quicker than most of his fellow rookies. His speed, stamina, and unnaturally large amount of chakra was nothing to scoff at.

Minato, on the other hand, had his intelligence and speed. Speed that not even Naruto could match. He wasn't called the Yellow Flash for nothing. And thus, Naruto quickly found himself in a bind. After all, if you can't hit the man, there was no fight.

The younger blond threw another punch, again, just barely missing the Jounin as the older man turned away.

"Dammit, you old geezer; stay still for a second!"

Minato responded with a swipe of his leg, successfully tripping the poor boy. "If I'm so supposedly old, and you can't touch me, just how old does that make _you_?" He teased good-naturally.

Another punch was thrown at the man, only to have him disappear in a blink of an eye, in a haze of yellow. "Shoot-"

Naruto slid on the ground, clutching his head in pain. "Ow ow ow! Stop hitting me! Stop dodging!" The demon container yelled in frustration.

"You can do better than this, Narui!" The Namikaze cooed, "This old man's not even gotten a hit on him yet!"

Naruto's sky blue eyes lit in mischief at his words. "Oh, you want to get bruised?" His fingered formed a familiar cross.

In the sidelines, Kabumo's lone eye widened a fraction, "Idiot-"

"_Kagebushin no Justu!" _In an instant, the whole forest turned orange.

Minato faltered. _How?_

But he didn't get to think any further than that. The whole gang of Narutos took his dad's hesitation as his cue to attack. Like orange leaves during mid-autumn, they descended down, covering every inch of the floor. Not even the Yellow Flash could escape an attack like that without being scratched.

The boy whooped in triumph, "You don't mess with Narut-"

"_Futon: Daitoppa_!"(Wind Style: Great Destruction) A flurry of wind tore out from the center of the explosion, shredding everything in its path. The Naruto clones quickly dispersed, cutting down their numbers by more than half.

The boy in the in orange jumpsuit could feel his heart thump with excitement. His dad was so strong. It was like everything the history books had said, and then some. He was so giddy. So happy.

The remaining Narutos leap towards the closest tree trunk, using it as a suface to propel themselves towards the future Hokage.

The man disappeared yet again.

"Damn it!" They yelled in unison, before they all crashed into each other and dispelled. Naruto, alone once more, pushed himself off the ground. "You're not doing that to me again!" He grabbed a handful of shirukens.

"Oh really?"

Again, there was a flash of yellow, and Naruto found himself pushed to the ground, arms pinned behind his back. His throwing stars scattered around him.

"You think that's going to stop me?" Naruto grinned. Before he could continue, a scold from his silver-haired teacher cut him off. "Wha-at?" he whined.

Kabumo shook his head, walking towards them. "I think you've have had more than enough exercise today."

"But I'm not tired yet, Sensei! It was just getting good!"

Minato helped the younger boy up, glancing over at the older Hatake. "Is he giving too much away?" he murmured softly, in an almost accusing tone. His face, however, was schooled into a look of indifference. His sharp eyes glinted as he focused on Kabumo's face.

The elder Kakashi blinked slowly. "What?" he asked, feigning confusing. So Minato did catch it after all. Well, he wasn't surprised. Who couldn't in that mass of orange?

"Care to tell me where you learnt the _Kage Bushin_?" The blond asked Naruto.

Naruto frowned. "The …" Oh, right; it was a Konoha technique found in the _Forbidden_ Scroll. He shrugged, "A silver haired man taught me," he said succinctly.

Minato looked over at Kakashi. Naruto blinked, "Oh, right, Kak- Kabumo-sensei has silver hair too. I mean a silver-haired man with shoulder length hair that hung down, not up. And he didn't look like he never heard of the word 'hairbrush', either," the young blond corrected.

"Hey!"

"Did he have a name?" Minato questioned. Why would a random ninja have Konoha techniques, and why would he teach any ol' random kid he came across?

The demon-container furrowed his brow, "It's kinda hard to remember someone's name when it turned out he was trying to frame me, and kill me and Iruka. And it turned out he was a nasty traitor who was lying to Iruka for half his life." Naruto growled out.

"_And that was a bit too much truth,"_ Kakashi thought to himself, hand ready to snap out to cuff the blond. But it seemed like Naruto was done ranting anyways. He didn't blame the boy to be mad. He'd heard the report from the Third and he'd been annoyed as well. If he was a bit rasher, he would've done something to Mizuki himself.

Minato studied the two before him. Narui splayed his emotions on his face for all to see. Kabumo was like Kakashi, seemingly indifferent, but he could read Kabumo as easily as he could read Kabumo's nephew. Perhaps he had a gift for reading Hatake emotions?

"Se-n-se-i!" Obitio yelled by his other two chunins, "Are we continuing training or not?"

"Yes, yes," Minato called over. He gave the two newcomers a slight warning glance, before warming up again. "Coming?" he asked.

Narui quickly brightened up as he bounded over with Kabumo in tow.

* * *

"I'm boreeeed, Sensei!" Obito drawled out sleepily with a yawn, later that week.

Kakashi couldn't help but agree with the Uchiha, not that he would ever say it out loud. "Why are we doing D-ranked missions again?" he asked instead.

The blond smile amicably, kneeling on the muddy ground along with his students, "I figured we should keep it easy, seeing as our two new members just recovered recently." He pulled up another weed and tossed it to the growing pile beside him.

"That was almost weeks ago, Sensei!" orange-goggled boy whined.

"Now, now," Minato consoled, "Let them rest."

For weeks, team Seven fell into a relatively relaxed routine schedule of training and D-ranked missions. Especially relaxed, considering Obito and Kabumo's (mainly Kabumo's) chronic lateness. Minato'd managed to get the man to reduce his tardiness from three hours to two after taking a glance at Kakashi's fuming face each day. Narui just laughed in the sidelines.

Minato snuck a glance at them. Narui was faring as well as Obito was, that is to say, slowly falling asleep. The boy, as he'd actually fought him already, was strong and had seemly never-ending chakra and stamina. He was easily Chuunin level, or maybe even higher. He was relatively hardworking especially when it was training, and easy to get along with. He was also loud and occasionally obnoxious - especially when around Obito. Those two were two of a kind.

Kabumo … well, the first thing that came to mind about him was lazy. He was the complete opposite of Kakashi. He slouched; dragged his feet; ignored people; was late; and came up with ridiculous, Obito worthy, lies.

But Minato knew better than to judge people from their displayed appearances - especially ninjas. There were times when he'd see a glimmer of _something_ in those supposedly lazy grey-blue eyes of his. Minato, in fact, kept an eye on the other man the whole time he fought the younger boy. Kabumo pretended to be bored, but his eyes flickered with the fight and he grimace at all the right moments.

And even now, the man, he could see, could certainly multitask.

Kabumo was squat down on the ground, orange book in one hand, other hand mechanically pulling weeds out of the ground.

…hm, a book right now seemed like a really good idea, actually.

**x-x-x**

Little Kakashi looked over at his _very_ sorry-excuse of an Uncle, who had his face buried in an little orange book.

"You should be working," He bit out.

The older man gestured to his pile of weeds without looking up.

Kakashi frowned at him. "You really -"

"Hey, is that book any good?" a voice called. Minato-sensei grinned, walking over, wiping his hand on his pants. "You seem quite engrossed in it."

"You don't want to read it, Sensei," Kakashi replied for his Uncle, in a rather disgusted voice.

The book shut with a snap as Kabumo stored it back in this inner vest pocket. The blank orange cover, or rather the flipped dust-cover of his _Icha Icha_, gave no clue to the title nor contents of the book. "I thought you liked it," Kabumo teased.

A blush creped on the boy's face, and Minato curiosity grew, wondering what could aggravate the normally stoic boy so much. "It's _porn_!"

"Where?" Obito bounded over with Naruto in tow. Rin's growing blush proved she was eavesdropping on the conversation as well.

"Did I forget to mention that Kabumo-sensei's a pervert?" Narui asked cheerfully as he approached.

"Evidently," Kakashi murmured under his mask.

Obito bursted out laughing. "Jeeze, Kakashi, I didn't know you were so eager to-"

A kunai was held to his throat from an enraged boy. "I did not."

"Boys!" Minato chided, "No fighting. Besides, it's perfectly normal for a boy-"

"Sensei!" Kakashi all but whined. No. He didn't. Hatakes don't whine. He _interrupted._ "It's _his_ fault." He pointed at his ever grinning Uncle.

"Don't be like that. I asked if you wanted a bed-time story and you didn't answer me, so I took that as a 'yes'."

"It meant 'are you stupid', not 'yes'."

Kabumo shrugged, "Maa, how was I supposed to know?" He blinked innocently, "Say, you want to know what happened after Kaiyuki fell into the hotspring while running after the busty Shina on-"

Minato coughed, "Kabumo, please refrain from reading porn to my students."

The younger man shrugged again, "Alright." If the stretching of his mask was any indication, Minato could tell the man was grinning under it, "_You_ want to know about it then? Shina's a hot, busty woman with fiery red hair and a temper like no other. You should hear about all the things she can do to her man."

_A fiery red head._ Minato could feel his face heating up, as his mind substituted in a particular name for that red head.

He cleared his throat. "Anyways," Minato stood up. "That's enough for now. We have another mission tomorrow. One I'm sure we'll all be grateful for," he said, looking back towards to Hokage tower. He gave his team a quick glance before strolling off. "Best we rest for tomorrow."

* * *

**In the Hokage Tower:**

"You think they're ready?" Sarutobi asked, as Minato reported his daily observations to his leader.

"For the … C-rank? Yeah."

The old man nodded thoughtfully, staring out the tall tower window behind his desk. The stone faces of the previous leaders stared back at him. "I hope it goes well."

Minato smiled, "I have the utmost confidence in my team. …the whole team."

It was true there was (currently) nothing to be wary about with the two new shinobi in Konoha. Just because Narui knew a forbidden technique really didn't mean too much. At a point in life, it hadn't been forbidden, and had been displayed for shinobi of all nations to see in battle. Someone could've have easily picked it up and recorded it down. Narui merely met someone who knew, and that was all to it.

Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe. "This is your call, Minato." Was it wise to let them take this mission just a few weeks after coming to the village? Did he trust them enough? "I hope it goes smoothly. You leave tomorrow."

The sunshine blond gave a cheery grin, "You worry too much, Hokage. I have complete trust in those two. What can go wrong?"

Sarutobi blew smoke between his lips slowly, as Minato gave a bow and left the room. "Indeed; what could possibly go wrong?" He parroted back to himself warily.

Or were those famous last words…?

* * *

_A/n: so, anyone know if Jiraiya's still alive? I mean around the time Sasuke killed Danzou. I kinda planned him in into my plot, and then someone told me he was supposed to be dead sometime in the future... but they couldn't tell me when._


	4. Attacked already

_A/N: Thanks for answering! I guess I'll just have to do without the super pervert(*sigh* I'll have'ta replan a bit of the plot). I would've liked to thank you all individually for the reviews, but the reply link didn't work. Well, it's working now, but it's kinda silly to answer you guys back now, after so much time has passed._

_On another note: Hmm, you people also ask good questions. As to why the hospital staff never saw Kakashi's sharingan… well, he was unconscious, as in with his eyes closed. I'm no nurse or doctor so I don't know how they treat unconscious patients, but even if they do check their eyes(shine a light to it or whatnot) I highly doubt they'd go like, 'hey, let's check the eye with the freak scar on it!' instead of just checking the perfectly normal eye. For all they know, there probably isn't even an eye in the socket. And the scarring probably clued them in that the injury wasn't even recent, so no need to check and disinfect._

_And another note: Hey, someone found my DeviantART account and reviewed to me about this fic! Sorry, I didn't notice until recently, since I don't go on much... just during my (not so) annual art dumps. …maybe I should go on more often… haha_

* * *

Naruto gave a whoop as he jumped up in the air. "Alright; C-rank!"

Kakashi snorted in distaste, "And this pleases you? We were doing B-ranks and A-ranks before you two came."

"We all needed a rest anyways, Kakashi. We can't always take high-ranked missions." Minato cut in. "Right?"

The boy rolled his eyes, "You just don't want to admit they're pulling us down." He murmured to himself in anger. Narui was stupid, brainless, and fought without thinking. Plus he wore _florescent orange._ His Uncle was lazy, half-blind, perverted, and giggled - yes, _giggled_ - while reading his nasty little book.

"We'll leave as soon as Kabumo gets here."

Ah, yes, plus he was always late.

"I can't wait that long, Sensei! Let's just leave without him!" Obito whined impatiently. He rocked on his heels, unable to stay still. They _finally_ had something other than D-ranks or training!

"Now you know how _we_ feel when _you're_ late." Kakashi drawled in a mocking tone.

The other boy gave a huff, "It's not like I do it on purpose…"

"Hey Narui," Rin spoke up, cutting Obito off. She really didn't want another fight among the boys again, "Is there any way to get Kabumo to come earlier?"

The blond shrugged, "I don't know; never tried." He scrunched up his face in thought.

"Don't hurt yourself thinking." Kakashi muttered dryly.

Narui immaturely stuck his tongue out at him before his face lit up, "Hey, I bet if you promise Kabumo-sensei you'll do something for him if he comes on time, he'll come!"

"That's stupid." Kakashi retorted, "And what makes you think I'll _ever _promise him _anything_?"

Minato-sensei's eyes lit up mischievously, almost mirroring the other blond. If Kakashi didn't know better, he would've sworn those two were related. "Well, his tardiness really seems to bother you, Kakashi. I'm sure if you don't want him to be late, you'll have to." He remarked.

The boy snorted. "Promise him what? I promise I'll love you dearly if you always come on time?" he mocked.

As if on cue, Kabumo appeared in a swirl of leaves. "Did I hear my precious nephew say he'll love me dearly, and deeply like the lovely, cute nephew he is? Suffocating me in his adoration and affection like I've always wanted?" he crooned sweetly.

Kakashi twitched in response. "No." he bit out. "But I'll suffocate you, alright." His eyes narrowed as he glared at his uncle, "Were you spying on us?"

"Of course not! Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Gee, the fact that you appeared right when I said that?" Kakashi muttered under his breath.

"Muttering is a really bad habit for a shinobi. Especially if you're planning to be a commander, Squirt."

The boy glared, "If you were here the whole time, why couldn't you come out? We have a mission, you know!"

Kabumo tsk-ed, "Don't be silly, I just got here a minute ago, sweet nephew o' mine."

"Su-ure" Kakashi grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Dare I ask what kept you _this_ time?" Minato-sensei asked, already leading the team towards the main gates of Konoha. He kept a hand on little Kakashi's back in case he leaped out to attack his Uncle.

The masked man smiled, excuse ready as always, "I thought I heard Mr Ukki calling for me, but in the end, it turned out to only be his great grand-uncle," he grinned.

"I hope he wasn't in any danger." Minato responded off-handedly, already knowing not to read too much into the stories Kabumo fed them.

The silver-haired man let out a short laugh, "Nah, just a little dehydrated."

Naruto just raised an eyebrow at his sensei.

* * *

"Do you understand the mission?"

The five-man cell nodded in response. They were to go to the Land of Rivers and escort a young silk merchant to Konoha, where she would stay for a week, selling her cloths. Later, they would be assigned to escort her back as well.

"I didn't think traveling merchants would hire ninjas for bodyguards. How do you make money if you have for pay for escorts every time?" Rin asked curiously.

"Hmm, well, normally they wouldn't, but apparently the girl's father fell ill, and she wants to make his rounds for him." Minato answered, "But we really shouldn't be questioning our clients, Rin."

The girl blushed, but dropped the topic. "Yes, Sensei."

The blond gave her a smile, before turning towards their new members, "Have you two been there before?" he asked, curious.

Kabumo nodded, "Yeah." He said. Rather bad memories of that place too. It was where they found their first Akatsuki hideout. The silver-haired man looked upwards, trying to keep his mind on the present.

"Kabumo…"

The older man looked over at the voice, "Yes, Rin?" he replied, glad for the interruption.

The young girl looked at him with a concerned expression. "What happened to your eye, if you don't mind me asking?" It'd always bothered her how he always kept it hidden.

"Knowing him, it's probably a stupid fashion statement." Kakashi commented.

"Haha!" Obito rubbed his eyes, laughing, "Like you're any better! You guys look the same except for the slanted hitai-ate! So you're stupid yourself too?"

"Boys!" Minato lectured.

Kabumo touched his hitai-ate covering his left eye. He glanced over at the two bickering boys softly, remembering the past. "It's a result of my stubbornness." He simply said.

Minato glanced over at the other man. He'd seen the long scar underneath it in the hospital. Out of courtesy of other's battle scars, he'd never questioned what happened to his eye. The scar had been deep, he'd noticed back then. Minato doubted Kabumo's eye survived whatever fight he'd gotten into.

"Doesn't the depth-perception bother you? It must be hard being a ninja with a handicap like that." Rin continued.

The Hatake gave a gentle smile to the girl. "You get used to it. It serves as a forever reminder of selfishness, and the pain and loss that it comes with."

Rin nodded solemnly at his tone, storing his advice away.

"Sometimes," he continued quietly, voice full of pain, "It's better to remember rather than to forget."

The others looked at him, in his serious mood, in a new light. Kakashi eyed his uncle curiously. His view of the man was always changing.

"How about we rest for a bit?" Their sensei asked, stopping abruptly. He glanced over at Kabumo, whose bitter face suddenly held an indifferent mask of a smile once more.

"We haven't gotten really far yet."

The man shrugged, "Doesn't matter, we can make it up later."

The others leaped to the ground following his lead. The future hokage leaned on a tree trunk, stretching his arms above his head. "Hey, Narui, Kabumo, can you two take some time to go secure the area?"

"Sure, Minato-sens-_san_." Kabumo answered, "Come on, Narui."

The two went down a bit further, checking for any signs of danger, Narui laughing all the way.

"What's so funny, brat?" the silver-haired man asked, already pushing aside the unpleasant conversation.

"You're being order around too!" the boy giggled out.

Kabumo hummed, "I guess it's been a while since I've been told to follow orders instead of giving it." He said to indulge the boy. Naruto always had the knack of distracting away unpleasant memories just by being himself. This time was no different. And Kakashi was thankful for it.

"You're the same rank as me now!" Narui practically squealed in amusement.

Kakashi quirked his eyebrow in response, "Oh-ho, it sounds like someone wants to be ordered around more." The U eye-smile came back in full force, "Don't forget I'm still your teacher, _Naruto_." He waved his hand in a dismissing gesture, "Now go secure the area."

The demon-container frowned, "Hey; what about you, Sensei!"

The elite Jounin merely smiled some more, "I'll be here reading."

"Lazy!" he yelled, stomping away.

"Yes, yes." Kabumo dismissed, face in book.

"Pervert!"

"I completely agree."

"Bum!"

"Hey, I resent that-" The older man cut himself off.

"Kaka… Kabumo-sensei?" Naruto asked.

The Jounin held a finger to his lips. "Shhh. I heard something." They sat in silence.

Naruto looked at his teacher, "Are you sure…" Any doubt was gone as soon as he too heard the distinct sound of someone – several someones - disturbing the leaves of the trees ahead.

The older man jerked his head back, pointing towards the others, "Narui, go warn the other four. I'll go see if I can make out who's out there."

The boy nodded wordlessly jumping back.

Kakashi leaped forward, keeping on the trees. He weaved around the leaves, trying not to make any excessive noise. It was then he saw the ones behind the noise. There were roughly five of them, quite professional, judging from their movements and form of communication with each other. Yet, they were too far for Kakashi to make out their hitai-ate, and loyalties.

But the way they moved; slow, cautious, and wary, nudged at the time-traveler's paranoia. They were too slow, too cautious, too wary, especially if they were allied with the Land of Fire. They acted too careful in Leaf's land to be possible allies. No, they were hunting something. And Kabumo needed to warn Team Seven.

* * *

The silver-haired man rushed towards his team, as quietly as ever. Not enough, however, it seem.

Kabumo leaped to the side as a fury of kunai lodged itself into the tree he was in. The man swore, twisting his body to face the enemy.

Men rushed at the Jounin, faces obscured by masks, and hitai-ates nowhere to be seen. _Were they not shinobi?_ Their movements and chakra manipulations stated otherwise.

"Who are you?" Kabumo asked, twisting to avoid yet another attack. "What country do you belong to?"

They snarled at him, never answering, and attacks doubling in strength every second.

With a slight crouch, Kakashi launched himself into another tree. "State your loyalties or be prepared to be attacked." They still refused to talk. "Alright, have it your way." The silver-haired man drew his weapons. Before he had time to even throw them, the men were already in his face, brandishing swords to attack.

They were fast, Kakashi would give them that. It seemed like he'd underestimated them.

A shuriken whizzed past his face, lodging itself into the vest of one of the enemy. Kakashi jumped backwards, pushing off with a hand. "Thank you, Narui." He said calmly, recognizing his swirling chakra from behind.

"You're getting _o-old_" Naruto laughed as his eyes focused on the ninja ahead.

"Yes, yes, mock your teacher." Kakashi said idly, his attention also focused on the enemy nin. He leaped backwards as he heard his old sensei's voice, throwing shurikens in front of him to hinder the enemy from following.

"Minato-san."

The older blond nodded at him, surveying the enemy. He kept his chunins standing behind him, despite their protests. "Do you know what they want?" he asked crisply.

"No, sir." Kabumo replied, "I can't see any headbands, but they are surely ninjas."

"I see." Minato tilted his head towards his back, "Kakashi, Obito, Rin, fall back. Secure the area behind us."

Obito scowled at the orders, "But Sensei, we can help with the fighting too!" he whined.

The blond gave a miniscule frown, "Obito, listen to my orders. I'll join you to give further instructions later. Now go."

Kakashi nodded with a salute, glaring at his teammates, daring them to disobey their teacher's orders. The three leaped away, leaving Minato and Kabumo alone, facing the enemy.

"Our orders, sir?" Kabumo asked once the chunins were out of their sight.

Minato nodded, tilting his head towards Narui, "I want you two in front. I've seen what Narui can do, and I think he can handle it. You as well." The two of them suddenly ducked a volley of kunai, slipping behind a tree to try and finish their strategy. Minato cut it as short as he could, "Narui in front left, you in front right. My chunins are taking behind, and I'll be in the middle to watch them. Questions?"

Kabumo nodded, biting his lip from expressing his want of watching over the chunins as well. Even just _thinking_ of the possibility of losing his friends once more caused his heart to clench.

But no, Naruto needed help up front. Besides, there was no one Kakashi trusted more than Minato to watch over the kids of Team Seven.

"Understood." Kabumo replied. The silver-haired man leaped back towards the enemy approaching, feeling Minato's chakra grow smaller as the man got further and further away. With a quick detour to inform Narui of the plan, Kabumo quickly shifted all his focus on the enemy nin, engaged into battle.

* * *

Kabumo _sorely_ underestimated the enemy.

He hadn't meant to, of course, but with the restriction of only using common jutsus placed on himself and Naruto, they were both currently having a hard time winning. Sure he had a whole repertoire of jutsus, but he couldn't just go whipping out every strong jutsu he knew. He needed to do this strategically without wasting chakra unnecessarily, especially considering just how _many _of them there were. He needed something strong, accurate, and something he was absolutely certain would not fail. He highly doubted he would be given may chances to attack these astonishing strong shinobi, so every move counted. And honestly, it wasn't their fault that their strongest attacks were ones they couldn't show anyone of the past. It would give them away in an instance, without a doubt.

Metal caught the light, and that was the only warning Kabumo got before a hidden ninjato slashed upwards at him.

"Great, you have a weapon too." The Konoha time-traveller murmured out for, really, the sake of saying anything. He shifted his lone grey-blue eye to look behind the man. The second nin had brandished out his large broadsword ages ago – not that it was really possible to hide in the first place.

The third enemy – yes, it was an unfair battle of three against one – stuck with the traditional kunai and shurikens. Although, Kabumo had a sneaking suspicion that he had a hidden weapon on him as well.

Six handseals later, Kabumo let out a long breath with a "_Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu."_ The scorching fireball caused the three enemy before him leap out of his way, squinting their eyes against the bright flame. That was all the distraction Kabumo needed.

He leaped at the first enemy, knocking the man down before he had time to recover. He spared some chakra for lightning clones to keep the other two busy while he took care of the first one.

The enemy was down just as a "God'dammit!" echoed from Naruto's side.

Kabumo spared a glance over to check on his student. True to Naruto's nature, the boy had a plethora of Shadow Clones running around trying to end things with brute force – which sounded more useful that it really was. The four Naruto was against knew how to work together, and _well_. Clones were knocked aside quickly and efficiently before they could do sufficient damage.

Unlike Kakashi, the boy's knowledge of powerful jutsus was limited. Naruto was growing furious, and Kabumo could see the boy's fingers twitching to _rasengan _everyone and finish the fight once and for all. Honestly, Kabumo didn't doubt that Naruto would do it too, if he still couldn't get anywhere within the next few minutes. There was only so much patience the boy had before he shoved aside all the rules Kakashi set for him.

Kicking aside the fallen ninja he finally took down, Kabumo raced for the other two. He had to finish this quick and get to Naruto before he did anything stupid.

_That_, of course, was easier said than done.

Even _if_ he could use his full power, these men were _good_.

The silver-haired man glanced over at his student, torn between fighting with all he got and keeping his identity (and this included techniques he shouldn't know) a secret. Naruto was practically getting pummeled, and he himself was starting to get tired already.

His finger itched to pull up his hitai-ate and end it, but that would only cause unneeded suspicious upon them afterwards.

Kabumo let out a hiss of frustration. They could win this, couldn't they? A Jounin, a sage (who wasn't allowed to used his sage powers), a future hokage, and three chunins. They were plenty strong. They could- **wait**.

_There was something wrong._

Every limb in his body froze momentarily, before he forced it to move. _Breathe, Kakashi. Focus._

The silver-haired man cast out his chakra, trying to sense what had suddenly disappeared while he was busy fighting. Minato and the kids should've been right behind them – should've been close enough for Kabumo to sense, but there was _nothing_ there.

_Where were they? _The Hatake knew Minato-sensei would take care of his students even if it cost him his life. That's why he left them under his care and focused entirely on the battle instead. _But…!_

Their chakra signatures were _missing_. Either they were too far away (but they shouldn't be; they were the back guards!) or they were… _dead…_

Kabumo whipped his head around trying to catch a glimpse of the four. There was Naruto, but _where_- **_Slash_**

"Damn it," Kabumo hiss out in pain.

In front of him, the unknown nin snarled, in his hand, a ninjato, just like his fallen comrade, "If you have time to look around, you must really be begging to die, aren't you?" His blade reflected the sunlight dangerously, Kakashi's blood dripping off it in victory. He rushed in for another attack.

"I don't have time for this," Kabumo snapped, clutching his arm to stop the bleeding, "Where the hell are the other four."

If possible, the ninja's smirk grew even larger, and suddenly, nothing mattered to Kabumo anymore. The knowing smirk was all the confirmation Kabumo needed.

"No, no, no, no." He took a breath - a fruitless attempt to keep his emotions in check. Everything swirled in his head.

Rin, Obito, little Kakashi, Minato-sensei… he couldn't loose them again. No, not again - never again.

Even without the necessary three handseals, Kabumo's hand started to glow blue. Electricity crackled around him, forcing the man to step back in fear. A sphere of blue electrical chakra swirled in Kakashi's right hand. His muscles screamed in pain as he pushed himself into a blindingly fast leap towards the enemy nin."What the HELL did you do to them?"

The one in front of him, hand still clutching the dripping ninjato, had no time to dodge. The one with the broadsword just barely had time to put the weapon between themselves and the crackling ninjutsu.

"_Raikiri!"_

The ball of electricity lodged itself into his blade, shattering it, and crashed into the enemy's blocking arms. The momentum blew both men back. They were flung towards the rocks behind them, colliding into it painfully, creating a crater of a remarkable sizes.

Kakashi's fingers stung from the slightly overcharged _Lightning Cutter_ but he paid it no heed.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a few shinobi fighting on Naruto's side running towards him.

He had to stay and fight… but… _Obtio, Rin, Minato, little Kakashi…_ he had to find them too. Kakashi swore, leaping further back; towards Konoha. _So much for keeping our identities a secret._ His right hand swiped his blood, slamming it down to the ground as he landed.

_This is the only way… _Keeping it a secret? That didn't matter anymore. Nothing was more important than his former teammates. _Especially _if _he_ caused them all unnecessary _early_deaths. He swore he would change things for the better. Them dying was _not_ for the better.

The ground glowed. _Please work… _No one could track better than Pakkun and his ninken. "_Kuchiyose no_-" The rest of his summoning Jutsu died on his lips as his nose caught a scent he didn't notice before.

Kakashi straightened slightly, sniffing the air again. His eyes trained on the oncoming ninjas in front of him, his hand still on the ground in the middle of his summoning. The stench of blood still lingered in the air, but less prominent now that he was further away.

Kakashi sorted through the smells assaulting his nose, trying to find the scent again. _I know I smelt it… I'm positive... There!_

Kakashi's eyes widened as he recognized the scent, before narrowing it in a frown. _He_ was here. _Why…_?

* * *

_A/N: I bet'cha will be disappointed next chapter, lol._


	5. Why Him?

The Hokage sat behind his desk. His hands clasped in front of his face in thought. In his mouth, he chewed his pipe - a habit he developed not long after obtaining the role of the Sandaime. Before him stood one of his loyal shinobi.

Sarutobi nodded at his man, "It seems you were quite right." He noted idly, calm as though he had known it all along.

The ninja nodded, a small smirking smile playing on his lips at the Hokage's bluff, but his voice was respectful as always. "Yes, there was nothing for you to worry about, Hokage-sama." Beause he _knew_ he had worried.

"No, I shouldn't have doubted your judgement." Sarutobi replied, shaking his head. "You do know them best, don't you?"

The man gave a little laugh, blond hair shaking from the movement. "We-ell," he said cheerfully, "we had every right to suspect the two 'travelers', and a sudden fight really caused them to show their true selves."

The Hokage nodded thoughtfully, thinking back. "True, true." the old man agreed. "and the results were quite pleasing." he added as tension slowly fell from his shoulders. "You seem to have quite the ability to judge people."

In front of Sarutobi, the man gave another laugh. A small grin bloomed on his face. "I sure hope I do." he said. He ran a hand quickly through his blond hair. "I place all my trust in Team Minato," the man in charge of the five-men cell said, confidently and proud. "Or else I wouldn't have come to you proposing this."

And really, there was no way his trust could have been misplaced. Not after the display Kabumo put on once he realized that his teammates were missing. In fact, both Kabumo and Narui seemed to have bonded with Team Seven more than Minato had expected.

That was a great thing indeed.

The Sandaime gave another puff on his pipe. "That young man is quite unexpected." He commented in a quiet murmur, just loud enough for the Jounin in front of him to hear.

Minato couldn't help but nod, mind reeling back to the past fight. "He'll make a strong ally." the blond stated positively.

Sarutobi agreed, but his face didn't share Minato's cheeriness. "And a terrifying enemy."

* * *

**Half a day ago, end of battle:**

Kakashi mind went on overdrive. Why was _he_ of all people here?

To make sure he hadn't been imagining things, the Jounin had sniffed the air again, changed positions, and sniffed again. And yet, it never changed. He _was_ here. But there was no reason to be!

The masked man tried to calm himself, brain whirling and trying hard to understand what he did wrong. _Why_ was he here? _Why_ was he attacking them? Everything was going fine when Team Minato headed off for their mission. The fact that they were given a mission meant the Hokage trusted him already.

How did things change in such a short amount of time?

..._Change?_

The man froze abruptly, a thought clinging into his mind. His lone grey-blue eye flickered as he surveyed the situation. What was to say anything_ did_ change, Kakashi suddenly realised.

In a matter of second, the silver-haired time-traveller calmed down. His entire posture changed the moment he knew (he thought he knew) what was going on.

Idly, as though he hadn't a care in the word, Kakashi gave a off-handed wave of his hand. He turned momentarily towards where the scent was emitting from. "So… is this an ambush to kill us off, or something?" Kakashi said in a half-joking tone. He pushed the focus of the oncoming attacker to the back of his mind; they weren't important anymore. Not when Kakashi knew what was going on now.

There was no answer.

Without turning, Kabumo dodged yet another attack, jumping even closer to the hidden shinobi. "I know you're there. You can't hide from the Hatake nose." the masked man stated softly. "Standing downwind doesn't help. Wind currents change rapidly, you know, and all this fighting in front of you causes quite the mini whirlwind."

Kakashi touched his hiat-ate, fixed in place, before approaching. "Honestly," the silver-haired man continued, "I don't quite remember what I did to make you distrust me so much. Unless, of course, you count trying to corrupt a lil' chunin into perversion?"

He leaped over a sudden swing of a sword from the enemy he turned away from. "I would hate to have to fight you," Kakashi said softly, eye still fixed on where he thought the man was hiding. "Hokage-sama." There was a pause. "And quite frankly fighting your Anbus is tiring." He added lightly, tilting his head towards the attackers.

Silence greeted his comment.

Kakashi shook his head softly and continued talking again. "I will not fight against my Leader or village if I have no reason to." Kakashi stated calmly, even as his instincts screamed against standing still. He turned back towards the oncoming Anbus, understanding now why they all looked a little familiar.

Kakashi held a hand to his face, the other fell lax by his side. He slouched his body, emitting an aura of reluctance to fight back. "As I said, I will not fight you." Kakashi stated, as if his posture was not clue enough.

The enemies (Anbus) rush forward towards Kabumo without hesitation, even at his announcement, arms raised, ninjato, and broad swords ready. The time-traveler stood and stared without as much as a twitch. Kabumo watched, eye sharp and calm as bodies before him twisted, muscles bulged, as their weapons came forward as they brutally **_slashed-_**

"_CEASE!"_

Everything froze on command.

Nobody even seemed to even dare to _breathe_ until a comment called out from the side. "Eehh? Why're you here Old man –er – I mean, Hokage … sama?"

Kakashi's eye flickered to his left where Naruto had slid off to when he heard the Old man's voice. He glanced back in front of him, a ninjato a mere hair's breadth away from his face. For a while, there was nothing but silence as both parties stood erect and still, waiting for their Hokage's orders.

And then, Sarutobi walked forward, finally emerging from where he had hidden himself throughout the battle. His dark onyx eyes stared a calculative gaze at the Hatake before him. "What if I had not called them off?" he stated, voice betraying nothing. There was no talk of if the Anbus could not stop in time, for Anbus did not fail.

Kabumo shrugged, pulling down his hitai-ate. Sometime between declaring he wouldn't fight back, and the Anbus closing in on him, the headband had innocently slipped up, revealing the scarred, closed eye under it. "We-ell," Kabumo, for in his Hokage's presence he would never be seen as 'Kakashi', drawled lazily, "I'd like to think that I wasn't _completely_distrusted by my honourable Leader…" A hint of hopefulness leaked into his voice.

Sarutobi studied the taller man intently. Kabumo politely stood under the old man's burning gaze without a word, allowing the Hokage to see all there was to see. Because if anything, his love for Konoha was as great as, if not more, than every other ninja under the old man's control. And honestly, Kabumo wished the Hokage would realise this too.

A moment passed as the two men stared impassively at each other. Then, as if finally accepting what he had to say, the Sandaime suddenly nodded, head tilting back to Konoha. His Anbus disappeared in a whirl of leaves without a word.

And then, as though a veil was lifted from the world, everything seemed to return back to normal. The old man smiled, all signs of tension immediately absent. He looked back at the remaining two shinobi on the field. "Well then, let us head back." he said peacefully, like nothing was wrong.

Naruto frowned. "Old –er – Hokage, what about the mission?" he wondered, cerulean eyes wide and confused.

"The mission is over," Kabumo answered for him.

"What? Did we fail? What happened to the little girl?"

"**_We_** were the mission."

"Huh?" Naruto furrowed his brows in thought. Slowly, he recalled how the enemy nin all seemed to follow the Hokage's orders with the utmost respect. They weren't doing it out of fear either. "You mean … this was all a _test_?" he asked as realisation struck.

"Good." Kabumo murmured, glad Naruto was keeping up.

Naruto, in turn, looked crossed between delighted at being complimented, and horrified at the thought of his beloved Old Man attacking them. In the end, the boy settled with a large grin – a meaningless grin that held nothing behind it. It was, Kakashi noted, Naruto's façade when he didn't know what to do. He'd seen it plenty times enough to recognise it.

As the three Konoha-nin marched back home to the village, dreaded silence clung to the air. Naruto was too unsettled by the minor act of betrayal from his old man to chatter mindlessly, and Kakashi didn't feel like talking while the Hokage was within earshot. Sarutobi was fine with quietly observing the two ninjas beside him from the corners of his eyes.

But, no matter how Naruto was feeling, silence never bond well with the blond. So, as Kakashi had expected, not too long later, the boy broke the hush. "Hey, sensei, where are you?" Narui suddenly asked.

Kakashi's even strides gave nothing away. "_I'm_ right here." The silver-haired man tried to correct without stirring up any more suspicion from their Leader.

Narui blink. "Oh." He looked around, "I mean the little guy who looks like you."

"You mean _Kakashi_."

"Err, yeah." The blond rubbed his neck nervously, "Yeah … _mini-you_."

Kabumo rolled his sole visible eye, shaking his head. "I suspect he's – along with the rest of the team – back at the village, waiting for our assessment to be over." He glanced over at the Sandaime for confirmation.

The old man nodded. "Correct."

The blond pursed his lips at that. A moment later he nodded to himself, "Well, I'm glad they're safe and unharmed, at least." Naruto said.

Kabumo's masked face was blank as he patted his student gently on the head. "Yeah, me too." he murmured softly, and the Hokage could hear the sincerity in his voice.

* * *

**Present:**

Kabumo slipped into the woods of an unused training ground, mind set on working on his jutsus. After the little test the Hokage gave Naruto and himself, the Anbus watching them decreased ever-so slightly. Obviously they passed whatever criteria they were looking for.

It wasn't any surprise to Kabumo that they had passed. Whether they were in the past or future, Naruto and himself were proud, loyal shinobi of Konoha through and through. They would _never_ let anything happen to a comrade if they could help it.

Kabumo sat down cross-legged on the grass, fingers locked in a ram symbol. He closed his eyes, as chakra swirled around him.

A soft crunch, almost inaudible, but nothing the former Anbu Captain couldn't detect, sounded from behind the man. Kabumo turned slowly, allowing a grin to grow on his face, even at the annoyance of being interrupted. "Awww, my little nephew miss me so much he just had to seek me out?" he crooned.

The figure behind a tree walked out stiffly. "Of course not." Kakashi snapped, silver hair glistening as he passed over a spot of light.

Kabumo could feel the boy's grey-blue eyes linger over his bandaged hand. He knew it wasn't worry. Kakashi's next words proved him right. "I want to know what jutsu you used."

The older man tried a look of innocent confusion. "What jutsu? Where?"

That only caused the younger boy to roll his eyes irritatedly, a gloved hand jabbing at Kabumo's chest, "Look, the Hokage explained to Minato-sensei what happened after they shoved us back into the village. Since you lived with me, I obviously had the right to know too." His eyes narrowed into a glare, "You did some lightening jutsu to the Anbus, strong enough to break his sword _and_ throw several men back. I want to know what it was." Kakashi demanded, eyes daring his Uncle to refuse him.

Kabumo moaned dramatically, "Maa, that's no way to ask a favour."

Little Kakashi was anything but amused. "I'm the Hatake heir; I have the right to know." he demanded. And honestly, his Uncle should be pleased to teach him. Afterall, they had to pass techniques along if they wanted the Hatake Clan to grow stronger.

The older Hatake, however, just shook his head. "How about you finish out the little quirks of your own jutsu first before learning something new?'

Kakashi froze at his words. "How did you know that?" he hissed. No one was supposed to know he was working on his own jutsu. He hadn't told anyone yet!

"Maa, maa, I'm not _that_ ignorant of what my sweet little nephew is up to." Kabumo drawled idly. "When you disappear off several hours on your own daily and come home exhausted, I can guess." Also the fact that Kabumo lived through little Kakashi's life already helped his deduction so much more.

"Are you _spying_ on me?" the boy hissed once more. His face contorted to a look of rage. Much of his anger, however, the chuunin knew, was actually directed at himself for not noticing anyone watching rather than at his Uncle.

"No no, " Kabumo placated immediately seeing his irritation. He held his hands up innocently. "What I _do_ know is that you have a lightening affinity, and those burn marks on your hands come from applying too much chakra. This leads to the possibility of you either learning new jutsus or making one up yourself. Of course, for the little genius you are, I would assume you'd be eager to invent your own jutsu."

"What does this have to do with you not teaching me? I can do both at the same time."

_Other than the fact that it was the same jutsu he was trying to invent now_, Kabumo mused ironically to himself. He tried to switch tracks with the conversation. "So what do you want to learn it for?" the masked man asked lazily.

The boy looked at him as though that was the stupidest question in the world. "To get stronger." Kabumo could hear the 'of course' implied to the end of that.

"For what?"

An eyebrow arched at his follow-up questio., "What do you mean 'for what'? Of course it's for my duty as a shinobi of Konoha." he stated without hesitation.

The time-traveller tried not to groan into his hands even though he knew that answer was coming. Instead, he shook his head softly in weak disappointment. "If that's your final answer, you'll never get anywhere." Kabumo held up a hand to stall the boy when it looked like he was about to argue, "You'll never grow stronger thinking you're only doing something for _duty_or because it's your _orders._ Don't you have people you love and want to protect? Your precious people?"

"Love is weak. The Shinobi Rules demand that ninjas should have no emotions ties pulling them down. We are tools to be used-"

"The rules be damned." Kabumo snapped. "Wanting to protect something – someone - makes you _stronger_." He could probably drag Naruto here, and the blond could preach at his younger self for hours about it. But he knew that wouldn't work. Kakashi would never listen seriously to a ninja like Naruto.

The older man let out a sigh. _He_ was the only one who could save his younger self. "Come, sit." he patted the grass beside him. "Oh, come on." the man urged, "Can't you at least_pretend_ to be adorable and obedient once in a while?" Kabumo man sent a pleading look at the boy before him.

Grumbling under his breath, Kakashi looked around making sure no one was watching before finally obliging. He was curious what the man had to say, and that was the only reason why he obeyed, Kakashi thought firmly to himself. "What now?" he deadpanned as he plopped down on the ground.

"Now I tell you a story."

Kakashi could feel his eye twitch at his words. They boy made to jump back up and leave, when a pair of pale arms wrapped around him, "Don't be like that." his uncle whined in a sulky pout. "It's a _good_ story."

Kakashi stiffened.

"Not porn." Kabumo added quickly, picking up his younger self's dread.

The little chunin's shoulders un-tensed slightly and the boy turned to stare at his Uncle. Finally he gave a short nod, as if accepting his promise, "Alright, fine." he groused. He slipped back into a sitting position, lounging like he didn't have a care in the world, "Tell it, then."

Kabumo sent him a soft smile. His lone eye drifted upwards, gazing into the clouds overhead, unfocused and remembering. Little Kakashi watched as the man's face tightened slightly into a small grimace, and a hint of pain flooded into his Uncle's face. With a quick shake of his head, Kabumo closed his eye, sighed, and looked back at Kakashi once more. He smiled again. "It's a story about a boy," Kabumo started, "and how he strove to be a respected ninja by doing whatever was expected of him."

"Good for him." Kakashi murmured quietly to himself.

Kabumo heard, his eyebrows narrowing fractionally as the boy said those words. "_Not_ good." The older Hatake disagreed. "He was a _coward, _hiding behind the word of rules." The man's voice hit a venomous tone, "He was afraid to think for himself and simply did what he was told without question."

The boy beside Kabumo leaped up, eyes blaring in anger. "That's what a Shinobi is required to do. We are nothing but tools for our village. We don't question our orders. Cowards are the ones who DO!"

"Oh?" Kabumo retorted, eye fixed into a steady glare into his younger self's. He tried to convey all he could in that stare, hoping the boy could just understand. "Are we not human? You think we should be emotionless tools as ninja?" Kabumo scoffed. "He WAS a coward." the man declared firmly, "He was afraid how people would react to him if he wasn't obedient; the perfect little shinobi. He was afraid he would see disappointment from them; rejection; scorn – and so he killed his personality and hid himself behind flawed rules so it wouldn't happen to him." _Like it had happened to their father,_ Kabumo added to himself in his mind.

Kakashi wanted to argue, his mouth opened to repute those statements, but his chest clenched every time he thought of the words. Kabumo watched from the corner of his eye as the boy debated with himself. He continued the story. "And then they boy met someone – someone so unlike him, he couldn't help but hate him for it. It was a long time later that the boy finally realised it was jealousy he felt. He couldn't understand how the other boy could be so happy acting however he wanted, even in front of the judgemental eyes of others. And he couldn't stand how he could be so cheerful everyday while the boy himself was not."

Kabumo rubbed the Leaf symbol of his slanted hitai-ate, his hand slowly gliding towards the area above his left eye. "The boy could delude himself all he wanted on how much they hated each other, but when it truly counted, " His voice threatened to crack, "despite how insolent, arrogant, and egotistical I – the boy," he corrected hastily, "was, the other kid had no hesitation pushing him away from death and accepting it in his place." The time-traveller took a deep breath, trying to even out his breathing. A lone grey-blue eye stared out into the trees, seeing what no one else could. "It's really a shame, " he all but whispered, "when the moment he finally accepted someone for who they were; finally forgave himself; finally saw the whole world past that bricked wall he built himself, the one he owed it all to was snatched away from this world. Never knowing how much the boy owed him."

Kakashi fidgeted, gaze never meeting his Uncle's eyes. "Is this about your eye again?" he asked indifferently. Kabumo gave a soft wiry smile, as he made out the twinge of uncomfortableness in his younger self's voice. His story definitely struck something in the boy.

"Maybe."

The boy stood up stiffly, brushing off grass from his pants. His head tilted to the side arrogantly, eyes carefully locked onto a tree behind his Uncle. "What does this have to do with anything?" he asked scalding, trying to act like the story didn't affect him.

Kabumo knew better than to call him on it. "Nothing and everything." he replied instead. Kabumo stood up alongside the chunnin. "Being the strongest isn't everything; especially not on your own. Get along well with your friends, before you regret your decision in the future."

"I don't have friends."

The older Hatake arched an eyebrow. "Minato, Rin, Obito?" he listed. And there would be so many more if he just gave them a chance.

"Minato-sensei is the team leader, Rin is a tolerable teammate, and Obito is a weak idiot." The boy stated without any infliction in this tone. "They are not my friends. Do not talk as though you know me." Kakashi spat out, turning swiftly on his heel and leaving the man without another word. His stoic, uncaring demeanour was back once more, and Kabumo was afraid he might've pushed too hard.

The man, alone, sighed softly to himself. At least he still had time.

* * *

Little Kakashi hated it when adults preached at him, thinking they knew best.

They knew nothing. If adults really knew what was best, his father wouldn't've been disgraced because his father would've been _right._

No one knew anything. Everything was all a lie. Kakashi knew he could trust nothing but the rules. The rules didn't change – they were etched permanently into scrolls, and there was no way around them. People were pathetic, changing opinions whenever it suited them best.

One minute everyone was happy Sakumo saved them, the next, they hated him for saving them and sacrificing the mission.

What gave them the right to preach when adults themselves were indecisive sheep, following the opinion of the majority? He would _never _be like them. _Never;_ he would give up those useless emotions, and become the ideal ninja.

..._ and yet ..._

Kakashi sat up on the rooftops eyes glazed and unseeing. Hours passed, as clouds upon clouds passed him overhead. And all the time, he kept his mind blank, unwilling to think. Unwilling to see how much sense his Uncle made.

_... why did the man have to come now of all times?_

His mind faintly registered the fact the sunset was slowly sinking into the west horizon when the boy let out a low sighed. Kakashi stood up suddenly. He turned around stiffly, as though hating his next movement, and slowly, but surely, headed back to the forest. Half of him had no idea why he was going back, the other half denied furiously that it was because his Uncle seemed to be able to help him. Maybe he just wanted some company after spending half the day all by himself. Or maybe - just maybe - he wanted his Uncle to be right.

Shouting caught the boy's attention before he made it to the clearing his uncle was in. "Keep it up; put more chakra into it!"

_What was he yelling about now_, Kakashi mused to himself.

The boy peaked through the trees. His chest suddenly stung (why does it hurt, Kakashi thought) as he saw his Uncle happily coaching _Obito_ on his Katon. His hand clenched into a fist without him knowing and his lips let out an unexpected hiss of anger.

That was more than enough to catch Kabumo's attention, drawing the man's gaze over at him. Kakashi muttered quietly to himself, shocked he was caught staring so quickly, as he fled the scene without a glance back.

If Kabumo hadn't seen his masked lips moved, he would've assumed he was just imagining things, as a murmur sailed with the wind.

"So you'd rather help Obtio than me?"

And by the time the sentence registered in Kabumo's mind, Kakashi was gone in a swirl of leaves, leaving no traces behind.

* * *

_Author's note: So I always believed that Kakashi acted the way he did because he was afraid people would treat him like they did with his father if they ever saw that he wasn't the perfect little prodigal shinobi everyone hailed him as._

_Haha, I have no excuse for not updating this fic for such a long time, except... well, no, I really don't have an excuse. Especially considering the fact that this is one of the few stories where I actually have plotline notes written out for from first to last chapter (excluding like two chapters in the middle)... Sorry. If it helps, I present to you a coloured drawing of Anbu Kakashi in my deviantArt account as an apology? Since ff doesn't like links in chapters, there a link to my dA account on my profile. Just go to the galleries, Naruto folder, and ta-da, Anbu Kakashi picture for your eyes :)_


	6. Denied

_Ughhh, I hate time lines. Everyone of them gives me something slightly different..._

_Haha, btw, can you tell the halfway point in this chapter where my writing style changes a bit? Half of this was written a while ago, and then I lost my inspiration. The other half was only recently written. (of course, I don't write in order so the bottom half was written first)_

* * *

Little Kakashi had already turned into bed by the time Kabumo came back to their apartment. In the morning, he was gone before Kabumo woke up, using his window as an escape route so he wouldn't rouse his Uncle out of his slumber.

Kabumo let out an irritated groan, scrubbing his hands on his face when he realised he was all alone. He screwed up. And now Kakashi was no doubt ignoring him. The man ran an irritated hand through his unruly silver hair wondering how he could fix the situation now. Just when he was getting so close too.

Fists pounded at the door at that moment. "Sensei, sensei! Wake up already!" Naruto's bright voice cried from the other side.

Kabumo pulled up his mask, rolled off his couch, and dragged his feet the short distance over. "I'm up. I'm up," he groaned impolitely as he yanked open the door. He glared down lazily at his student.

"Minato-sensei's taking us out for brunch since we have no mission today! He told me to take you along," was Naruto's cheery cry back. That boy was immune to Kakashi's rude behaviours. Shame.

Kabumo mused quietly to himself at the plan for the day. "Oh?" he murmured softly to himself. Maybe spending some time with Minato would cheer him up. He missed his old sensei. "Alright, let's go," the Hatake agreed.

Something nudged him in his mind, trying to tell him something, but for the life of him, Kabumo had no idea what it was. He was only going to leave his younger self alone for a day so he could calm down. What was he forgetting?

Shaking his head, Kabumo cast the thought out of his mind. If it really was important, he would remember it sooner or later. Now, all he wanted to do was finally have some time with his beloved old sensei.

x-x-x

"Five bowls of pork ramen!" Naruto cried out as soon as he plopped down on the bar seat of Ichiraku.

Kabumo was more polite, nodding at the only other blond at the ramen stand with a soft, "Good morning, Minato-san."

Minato smiled back at him, waving from his place, chopsticks in his hand. "Good morning, Kabumo. How's your day been?" Warmth spread in the masked man at his former teacher's words. He'd missed this man, his father figure after Sakumo's death, so much. They hardly ever met up outside of training, and times like these, Kabumo cherished, eager to take in warmth of family he'd stubbornly missed out as a child.

"Can't say much happened," Kabumo laughed, "I was lying on the couch the whole morning." _Sulking_. But Minato didn't need to know that.

The blond chuckled with him, before turning to watch Narui practically inhaling the whole stand, shaking his head in amusement. "Well, do order something to eat, Kabumo," the jounin prompted, "Lunch is on me, as I've told Narui, who…" he glanced at the younger blond once more, already staring on his fourth bowl of ramen, "seems quite eager to eat all my money away," he teased.

Naruto had the decency to blush. "Sorry."

Minato just laughed in response. "No worries. As long as I don't treat you every day, my wallet is going to be fine."

Kabumo snorted a laugh with his sensei, ordering a bowl of miso ramen as the blonds bickered playfully between them. Naruto seemed really happy lately, practically clinging on to his dad every day. Indeed, there was nothing like family.

Not for the first time, Kakashi wondered how his life would've been like if his own father was still alive. He wouldn't be as much of a lost cause as his younger self was now, that was for sure. Watching Naruto laugh and joke with his dad made him crave for his own. Chance and luck really favored Naruto. For himself, not so much. Really, if they had just come back five years earlier, he could've added his dad to the list of people to save.

But then again, if he was going to start thinking selfish thoughts like that, he might as well had wished to have gone back to the beginning of time, eager to save _everybody._

"-tely? Kabumo?" A voice jarred the daydreaming time-traveller. "Kabumo?" Minato's concern voice called out again.

A lone grey-blue eye blinked, breaking out of his daze. Kabumo focused on the blond before him. "Oh, sorry, did you say something?" he asked in a nonchalant drawl. Kabumo could feel Minato staring intently into his face, and the masked man struggled not to fully slam on his blank expression in return. If there was anyone who knew what Kakashi's blank faces meant, it was Minato.

"I asked how you were getting along with Kakashi lately?" the blond repeated concernedly.

Kabumo shrugged after a long moment of silence. "Good. Could be better," he admitted lamely. There wasn't much to say about that particular topic. Sure Minato knew him, but there was no one who knew himself better than himself, after all. Minato couldn't help with this problem.

Minato accepted his answer with a small sincere smile. "That's great to hear." His lips twisted into a playful grin. "Though, you really should stop teasing Kakashi so much. I don't think I've seen him this flustered before. You really do know how to push his buttons, don't you?"

"I guess it's a Hatake talent," the masked man grinned playfully at his former sensei.

Kabumo could hear Naruto snorting into his food.

"Ah? That explains a lot," the older blond laughed out loud. "Oh, that boy hasn't been this expressive since …" the man's mood suddenly dropped, remembering things he didn't want to.

Kabumo knew what he was going to say. _'… since Sakumo had be disgraced and committed seppuku in shame.'_ Nights after nights, his father's decision had haunted him, before the boy finally had enough and decided to push everything away. That was the start of it all.

Kabumo grinned suddenly, forcefully shoving the gloomy memories to the back of his mind. "Enough about me; how's your life with the hyperactive knucklehead?" he asked, driving on to a cheerier topic.

"Sensei!" Narui whined, mouth full of ramen. "I thought you stopped calling me that."

Kabumo gave a low chuckle at the boy's words. "Aaa, you'll always be my number one unpredictable, knuckleheaded ninja," the man cooed.

Minato laughed between the pouting Narui and teasing Kabumo, voice light and cheery. "You have quite the moniker, Narui," the man commented, cerulean eyes lighting up in humour.

"I'm not a knucklehead anymore," the younger blond protested with a sulk.

"Of course not," Kabumo comforted. Even Naruto could tell he didn't mean it at all.

"Hey! Minato-sensei, tell him he's wrong," the boy pouted, looking over at the other blond for support.

The man grinned, tapping his chopsticks against his lips in a mischievous manner. Kabumo couldn't help but notice the blinding resemblance between father and son at Minato's impish expression. He expertly shoved away his own selfish wants and needs as he noticed Naruto's complete and utter glee interacting with his own father.

Narui mock brooded, seeing the familiar expression on his father's face. "Hey, you don't get to tease me too!" he grumbled out playfully, "Or else I get to tell Kabumo-sensei that you calling us out for ramen is so that a certain redhead might join us if she passes by."

Minato seemed to choke at Narui's words, and Kabumo's single eye gleamed at the information.

"Oh, do tell," Kabumo urged his student, grey-blue eyes twinkling conspiringly.

"That is not true!" The blond jounin sensei denied, face heating up into a healthy blush.

Narui gave a toothy grin, whisker marks on his face stretching as his lips split widely upwards. "Ne, so I saw these pictures of a redhead he had hidden, like, _everywhere_ in his house," the boy began, even as Minato shouted protests beside him. "He _totally_ wants her to be his girlfriend," Narui said. "Then Minato-sensei mentioned how much she likes ramen and how he hasn't seen her in while. And then the next thing I know, he's suggesting that we should go try Ichiraku's ramen today with this perverted look in his eyes."

"It wasn't perverted!" Minato objected loudly, "I was just curious if you two wanted ramen."

Naruto rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Suuree," he drawled, "I've had my fair share of perverted teachers, Kabumo-sensei included. I can tell."

"So tell me about your beloved redheaded princess." Kabumo grinned at the moping blond. "And just exactly how many photos do you have of her hidden throughout your home?"

"There's just one!"

Narui giggled, kicking his dangling feet on the stool. "No it's not!" he sang.

"You're taking stalker photos of your crush?"

"No!" Minato baulked, face burning red by now. He sent a glare at the silver-haired man beside him. "They're legit photographs."

"Aah," Kabumo said knowingly, "Photograph_s_ you say? As in more than one picture of your lady love?"

The jounin rubbed his face with his hands exasperatedly, trying not to give in to the tagged team teasing the two were giving him. "It's just Kushina," Minato grumbled moodily, sending a playful glare at his houseguest for bringing this up.

"What's _just_ me?" a feminine voice suddenly asked curiously from behind.

Minato stiffened slightly at her voice, but seemed to recover quickly enough. "How are you today, Kushina?" the man asked, like nothing was out of the ordinary. Or like how they_weren't_ just discussing he had a stash of her photos framed around his house.

Minato closed his eyes and crossed his fingers hoping Kushina didn't heard anything but the last bit of their conversation.

Kushina obviously didn't when she just smiled happily back at the blond. "Oh, I'm fine," the female answered. Her long, red hair swung behind her back as she turned towards the two guests beside the man. "Are these two the new ninjas who showed up a few months ago?" the redhead asked. "Introduce us already!" she urged impatiently to Minato. "I'm Kushina Uzumaki!" Kushina called over before Minato could even speak.

Kabumo stifled at laugh at Kushina, remember her personality vividly. Kushina was someone you could never forget. The silver-haired man raised his hand. "Kabumo Hatake," he greeted. "Pleased to meet you."

Naruto was stuck in a dazed look, focused solely on the redhead before him. His sky-blue eyes had a shiny sheen to them, emotions trapped within. His eyes screamed out his want for his mother to recognise him, hold him, love him, and comfort him – everything he wanted to say as a child but was never allowed or been able to.

Kabumo stuck his foot behind Minato's stool, and almost regrettably, nudged his admiring student. There was only so long before the look on Naruto's face raised suspicion. "Stop ogling at the poor woman," Kabumo demanded.

The boy snapped out of his stupor with a soft, "Oh." Shaking his head, the blond started again, this time in the boisterous tone Kabumo was used to. "I'm Narui Uzu! Nice to meet you!" he cried back at the redhead. "You're louder than I expected you to be!" he commented fondly (oh so fondly), innocently, and of course, blunt like the ninja Narui was.

Kabumo choked back a laugh at the blond's words. Kushina and Naruto were two peas in a pod. Definitely mother and son with the same loudness, bluntness, and hyperactive impatience.

"What did you say, you little brat?" the woman yelled, her dark blue eyes flashing with rage.

Minato laughed nervously, hands held up in a calming manner. "Now, now, let's not fight," he placated. The blond turned to Kabumo for help only to see the masked man sitting back and enjoying the confrontation in amusement. Minato sighed. "Play nice, children."

"Children? You calling me a child, Minato?" Kushina sulked, turning her attention away from other blond.

"Ahh, of course not," he calmed, holding his hand defensively. "I would never suggest that. You're a perfectly fine example of a woman."

"Good," the redhead huffed, plopping down on a free stool. "Now be a gentleman and buy this perfectly fine and _beautiful_ example of a woman a bowl of ramen."

Minato chuckled softly at the redhead's words, completely expecting it. "My treat," he said charmingly. Narui snorted indiscreetly into his hands at the Namikaze's tone, earning himself a glare.

"Excellent," Kushina grinned. "Pork ramen, Teuchi-san!" the woman cried over the counter.

"Coming right up."

Kushina rubbed her hands eagerly, turning back to the two time-travellers in enthusiastic curiosity. "So, how's the idiot been treating you two?" she asked good-naturedly. She tactfully ignored the playful scowl the man sent back at her, blinding him with another cheery grin.

"He's been getting along wonderfully with my idiot. You know what they say," Kabumo offered, eyes lit in a rather mischievous expression.

"Idiots attract each other?" Kushina finished happily.

"Hey!"

The silver-haired man and redhead expertly ignored the indignant twin cries. "That works just as well, Uzumaki-san," Kabumo nodded amusedly.

The woman cracked up before giving the Hatake a 'tsk'. "Called me Kushina," the redhead corrected cheerfully, "No 'Uzumki-san'. That's too formal."

"Of course, Kushina-san," Kabumo agreed obediently towards the woman who'd be everything from his older sister to mother-figure in the past.

Kushina grinned happily turning sharply towards Minato. "See how nice some guys are?"

"What?" Minato asked innocently, "Aren't I buying you lunch already?"

"You're supposed to buy her flowers," Naruto whispered knowingly from the side. "And expensive jewelry." The boy paused. "At least that's what Ino tells me."

Kushina laughed, slurping into her noodles with vigor. "I like you guys already!" she said happily, pushing her now-empty bowl aside and hopping out of her seat. "We should get together some day."

Kabumo could see the disappointment in Naruto's clear, blue eyes immediately as the redhead looked ready to go. "You're leaving already?" the blond asked. There was a soft, pleading whine hidden in this tone.

"Sorry," the redhead said remorsefully, "But we have to get to the Hokage Tower."

Minato blinked at that. "Eh? We? Me too?" he jumped up from his stool at Kushina's nod. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

The woman pouted, "But how can I resist ramen? It's your fault for tempting me."

"We could've come back another time!"

"But I was already here!" Kushina whined.

Minato shook his head. "Alright, alright; my fault. Come on, let's go then," he urged exasperatedly, already laying down bills on the counter. He turned towards his two teammates. "Sorry to cut our lunch short," he said.

Kabumo nodded, his own disappointment matching the sulking look on Naruto's face, but he didn't show it, as he understood the busy life of a shinobi. "Thanks for lunch," Kabumo replied, holding up a hand in a saluting goodbye.

"See the two of you early, _on time,_ tomorrow for our mission." Minato added. "We're meeting at the Hokage Tower, seven sharp." He fixed a stare at the lounging silver-haired man in front of him. Kabumo gave him back an innocent smile in amusement.

"Are you telling me I _shouldn't _stop to help old ladies across the road?"

The blond rolled his eyes. "_If_ that's what you actually do," he grumbled before shaking his head, allowing a grin to form back on his face. "Anyways, see you tomorrow," he called out, bidding them goodbye.

The blond turned to catch up with the redhead, only to quickly turn around back to the two time-travellers. "Oh," he started, catching the two's attention. "By the way, you're wrong, you know," he said good-naturally, smiling at the two's inquiring expressions, "I don't _want_ Kushina to be my girlfriend." the blond said with a laugh, referring back to their past conversation, "She _is_ my girlfriend."

And with that, he fled after his lovely redhead, leaving the two to their own dumbfounded gazes.

As they watched Minato's quickly retreating back, Narui glared at Kabumo who shrugged idly back at him. "What?" the silver-haired man stated. "I don't take constant notes on my sensei's love life. How should I know when they got together?"

The blond gave a short 'hmph' and crossed his arms in a pouted. "But I wanted to make fun of him!" he huffed.

Kabumo laughed at his student, ruffling up Narui's blond hair, and shaking his head exasperatedly. "Have fun with that," he said. With a wave, the masked man gave Narui a final nod and headed back to Kakashi's apartment in great spirits.

Today was a good day.

* * *

The moment Kabumo set foot in his old apartment, the nagging in his mind persisted again.

The silver-haired man scrubbed his face with his hands with a slight groan. "Maybe I'm just worried about Kakashi?" he mused quietly to himself. It had practically been a whole day since Kabumo last seen his younger self, after all.

Perhaps Minato was right; he _had_ been teasing Kakashin too much lately. Maybe it was for the best if he just let the boy have a few days to himself to calm down.

Between being secretly over-protective of team seven, and trying to get a rise out of his younger self, Kabumo supposed it might've been too much. He'd always preferred to be alone. And then one day, he acquired an Uncle who just wouldn't leave him alone. Maybe that _was_ enough to cause his younger self to avoid him with all he could.

Kabumo sighed. Maybe he could limit his teasing and only bother Kakashi every now and then. Or when he needed to get the boy to open his eyes and see what he was missing.

The time-traveller believed he'd gotten relatively far with his younger self already. Maybe what he needed to do now was sit back and let Kakashi figure out things for himself, with subtle little nudges every now and then.

He _really _didn't want Kakashi avoiding him anymore than he did now.

Kabumo let out a long sigh, feeling much too like an old man with a stress piling on his back.

Constantly nagging at his younger self wouldn't solve anything. He knew that of course. But that was the only tactic he could think of that would get through Kakashi's thick, stubborn skull. It was either that or wait patiently for just the right moment. But god knows how long he would have to wait until that faithful day came?

For all Kabumo knew, it would be too late by then.

Kakashi would be too old; too used to his own habits to ever consider changing.

The silver-haired man heaved a heavy sigh, feeling depressing piling on again. Kabumo laid down on his bed (the couch), closing his eyes and resting his arm tiredly over them. There was too much to do, and too much to lose if he failed.

There was just too much … too much … too … _much_ …

**x-x-x**

The handle of the apartment door jiggled suddenly as the door slowly creaked open. Kabumo's eyes snapped open at the sound, suddenly disorientated at the rush of information.

_Was that Kakashi?_ Kabumo sat up quickly, and turned towards the door surprised, never expecting Kakashi to be back so soon. _What time was it? _A quick glance at the window showed that it was late already, as the sky casted a golden hue into the kitchen tables behind him. _Did I fall asleep?_

Kabumo shook his head clear from sleep, getting up to greet his younger self. He tried to get his heartbeat back down from the sudden jolt that roused him out of his peaceful slumber. As Kabumo watched the silver-haired boy strode through the doorway, Kabumo's surprise turned sharply to shock and bewilderment.

Little Kakashi was covered in bruises, from black to purple. From what Kabumo could see, half his body was wrapped in bandages. The boy limped towards the couch as Kabumo leaped up from it, giving him room to sit down.

"What-" Kabumo began, and then the persistent nudging in his mind finally gave it's reason. _The Jounin Exam,_ Kakashi realised, now that his head was fresh and clear from sleep_._ "I missed your Jounin Exam!" Kabumo cried out loud before abruptly stopping himself. Wait, that couldn't be right. If today really was Kakashi's Jounin Exam, then they wouldn't be meeting at the Hokage Tower tomorrow. That wasn't what happened the first time around!

Kakashi's grey-blue eyes narrowed, but there was no feeling behind it. "Are you spying on me again?" he stated. How else did the man know he just took the Jounin Exam? Or was even scheduled to take it?

"I wish I was, and then I wouldn't have missed it," Kabumo said half teasing the boy, even while his mind was in turmoil. Did he unknowingly change the future already? Trying not to show his worries, Kabumo attempted to brush off the minor change. That was all it was, after all.

In front of him, Kakashi rolled his eyes. "I'm not a kid; I don't need an audience. And I already threatened sensei not to come. Besides, only Jounin are allowed to watch. You clearly are not a Jounin of Konoha."

Kabumo brushed him off with a wave of his hand. "Whether you're thirteen or fifty, I'll always want to watch my precious nephew compete. And if they won't invite me, I'll find my own way in. Nothing would've gotten in my way to cheer you on."

Something fluttered in Kakashi's chest. A sudden pain shot it down not a moment later. "Well clearly you forgot, so that nothing more than meaningless words now. You seem more interested in helping train Obito than me anyways," he commented coolly, shifting to a more comfortable position on the couch.

Kakashi closed his eyes as he heard his Uncle leave the room at his words. He tried hard not to clench his teeth at all the foreign emotion bubbling inside of him. Where was his control?

Stuff clanged as Kabumo moved around in the other room. For a second, unexplainable fear erupted at the thought of his Uncle packing up to move out. Kakashi squashed it a moment later, frustrated at his own self. Where _was_ his control slipping off to?

Kabumo walked back into the room, his hands holding on to plates of reheated dinner. He passed one off the Kakashi before settling down across from him, a plate in his own lap. "Eat," the man ordered. Kabumo pulled down his mask and dug a chopstick into his own plate, following his own orders.

Kakashi peeked up at the man, studying him. The two of them looked remarkably alike, Kakashi noted, seeing his uncle's slim jawline. People had always mentioned the similarities between himself and Sakumo, but clearly Kabumo and himself looked a lot more alike. His father always had looked more masculine than him - his face more sturdy and solid. Not like Kabumo's at all.

Peeking under Kabumo's slanted hitai-ate, a hint of the end of a scar was seen, usually hidden by the edge of his mask. The scar looked ragged and deep, even from that little shown edge. The boy tried not to think about the rude comments he threw at his Uncle about his eye.

Lowering his face, Kakashi tugged his own mask off and picked up his chopsticks. He ate carefully as the calm repetitive sounds of chewing filled the air.

His Uncle's voice suddenly cut through halfway through his meal. "Let's talk," the man said abruptly, without warning.

Kakashi looked up sharply at the man's voice, only to have Kabumo's solemn expression looking evenly back at him. The boy swallowed. "About what?" Kakashi questioned calmly.

"You."

"Me," the boy repeated. There was clearly a tone of confusion.

Kabumo nodded seriously, inwardly trying not to cringe at his own decision to confront to boy. But he had to talk about last light sooner or later. And sooner was always better. He didn't need little Kakashi let his anger simmer and grow worse than it already was. And frankly, this might've been the moment he'd been waiting for all along.

"There is nothing we need to discuss about me," Kakashi said quickly and sharply.

But there was. And Kakashi himself finally realised it too, judging by the swiftness he rebutted the idea. Kabumo stared knowingly at Kakashi, and the younger boy tried not to grimace at the man's expression. "There is _nothing,"_ Kakashi repeated as strongly as he could, but Kabumo could hear the almost inaudible cracking in his voice as the boy himself knew it was a lie.

The time-traveller sighed softly, placing his plate of food to the side and staring at Kakashi straight on. "That is called running away," Kabumo said. "There is always something to discuss, no matter who it is."

Kakashi bit his lip anxiously before realising how visible that action was without his mask on. He turned away.

Kabumo shook his head sadly. "You don't have to look at me. Just listen," he murmured, hoping Kakashi would do that, at the very least.

For a while, the two Hatakes sat still at their respective spots, before at last, the silver-haired boy dipped his head to a short nod. "Talk all you want. It doesn't mean I'll accept what you say," the boy said stiffly.

_Oh, but you will, no matter how hard you try to deny it, _Kabumo thought to himself. Outwardly he only gave another soft smile, even though Kakashi wasn't looking his way. "Alright," Kabumo began, taking in a deep breath and casting his own mind inwards to the experiences and emotions he'd once tried so hard to lock away. "Listen up, Kakashi." He swallowed.

"I know you're a great ninja; a prodigy. You have skills beyond those your age; of those ten years older than you. But you are not their age. You're only thirteen. And despite what you want to believe, you are still a child. And you need to act like it. Or rather, you are _allowed_ to act like it and no one will blame you." Kabumo paused, unsure how to continue. He licked his lips, stalling for time.

"Why are you shoving away your emotions when you feel you can't deal with them?" Kabumo finally began again, "Why do you think there are people around you for? They care about you. They'll be glad to share your pain with you." _The haunting, dreary nights after Sakumo's death… _"You are allowed to feel sorrow. To cry you heart out when you need to. To ask for hugs. To throw a tantrum. To let it all out." Kabumo cried out, because god knows how much he needed it, and how much it would've helped if he had.

_And yet…_ "But of all those choices, you decided to keep it all locked in and hidden the key away where no one would ever find it. But that box won't last forever. One day, the lid _will_crack open. And when it cracks, and it all leaks out, it will _break you_, all that evil in that box; all those problems you refused to address and just shoved away." _And you'll end up doing nothing but suicidal ANBU missions after missions until your body can no longer take it. And yet the pain will never go away._

"It'll only get worse and worse," Kabumo said softly, remembering, "The pain will never go away." _Not until you finally realise you need to open up to people in order to heal. People like Obtio, Rin, Minato, the Hokage, Gai, Naruto, Sakura … _"There are so many people who are willing help you, if you'd only open your eyes and look."

The sharp clang of Kakashi's plates as the young boy violently pushed it away drew Kabumo's attention. "Everyone around are just comrades of war. I don't need them, and I don't like them anymore than I am required to," the silver-haired boy objected.

Kabumo tilted his head, staring into his own memories. "You like Obito."Kabumo finally said. _You… We envied him. He became an irreplaceable friend without me knowing it. _"But your pride won't let you be friends with the dead last." _Or rather, have friends at _all._ "_But he won't be last forever. Everyone is growing up."

Kakashi snorted. "Obito hasn't grown up in the past three years. And if anything, his skills have only gotten worse."

Kabumo gave the boy a soft smile. "Maybe all he needs is a nudge, a guiding hand, and someone who believes in him? A friend."

"Basically, you're saying that friends make everything better," Kakashi huffed, eyes staring darkly on the plate on his lap. His small hands picked absentmindedly at his wooden chopsticks.

"Among other things," The time-traveller replied, wondering how much really got through to his younger self. The older man rubbed his temples before shaking his head softly and picking up the empty plate in front of both of them. "I'll clean up," Kabumo said, getting up. "Why don't you sleep on it?" the man suggested. "Besides, you've had a busy day."

Beside him, Kakashi pressed his lips into a thin line, eyes with a faraway look, before they flicker and snapped to attention again. "Right." the boy said, tone seemingly back to normal.

Kabumo smiled, hands gesturing towards Kakashi's room, "Go sleep," he ordered, "We have to get to the Hokage Tower tomorrow for our mission."

He'd meddled enough for one day. Now, there was something else Kabumo had to do.

Even though they were meeting at the Hokage Tower instead of the original meeting at the training grounds like his past life, if Kabumo remembered anything, it was that the first mission after he got promoted to Jounin was that fated one of Obito's.

He could _hope_ that like the meeting spot, the mission had also changed. But Kabumo was a soldier, and he knew how vital that mission had been to their attack against the Iwagakure forces. Something so major was unlikely to be altered. And it was supposed to be a relatively simple mission – something even a recently promoted Jounin could command.

Kakashi fit the bill perfectly, both in the past, and present.

There was no way around this mission. But this time, Kabumo promised himself he would be diligent as ever for it. They both needed to rest up for tomorrow.

And _no one _would die this time around.

Kakashi's sudden frown caught Kabumo off guard as the boy stopped on his way back to his own room. His next words shocked Kabumo even further. "We're meeting at the Training Area, not the Hokage Tower." _That wasn't right; that couldn't be right, _Kabumo thought to himself. There was a pause. "I guess the original Team Minato and you and Narui have different missions tomorrow," Kakashi commented, voicing what had already occurred through Kabumo's sudden frantic mind.

Dread filled Kabumo. _No one_ was going to die this time, he promised himself this. This couldn't be happening. Even as he feared the question itself, Kabumo forced his mouth to move and ask it, voice slow and hesitant. "Do you know where your mission is going to be?"

The boy tilted his head to the side thinking. "Somewhere in Kusagakure," Kakashi guessed.

"Oh, I see. Good night then," Kabumo dismissed. If his voice seemed a little stiff, Kakashi never noticed, as the young boy slipped off to his room for his bed. Inwardly, the time-traveler panicked because he knew little Kakashi's mission was the exact mission he had dread for years and years after. And if that was the case, then where would his own be held?

Just when he thought he was given a second chance, it turned it he wasn't even going to be in that mission with them. He couldn't, _absolutely couldn't,_ let Obito die again.

Just when everything seemed to be going all right, why did it have to happen now?

Kabumo slipped out of Kakashi's apartment without a second thought, heading towards their Hokage, frustration, panic, and pain fuelling the way.

He stepped into the old man's office the moment he was allowed in, his eyes set and determined.

"Can I help you, Kabumo?" The Sandaime asked, pipe bobbing in his mouth. His office was still brightly lit, despite the time of night. The work of a Hokage was never done.

"The mission tomorrow…" the Hatake began, almost feeling sorry of disturbing the Hokage's work, but not enough for Obito's life, "Is it not the same as the one Team Minato will be given?"

A deep gaze caught his eye, giving nothing away. "Does it matter?" The old man asked. Kabumo understand it as a 'no' all the same. A chill ran through the Hatake at those words.

"I have to go with them!" Kakashi persisted immediately. Fear and horror shot through his body. Not Obito. He couldn't lose Obito again. Not when he could change things. Not when even his simple presence on the mission could possibly save the boy. "Please, Hokage, let me join Team Minato!" He couldn't be given a second chance and just sit back and do nothing!

His sole eye tried to convey his plead; his begging.

The Hokage merely looked at him, face bland and expressionless. His eyes were hard and calculating, studying the posture of the shinobi before him. The old man closed his eyes suddenly, as if in deep thought. And then, he said one word Kabumo knew would haunt him forever.

"Denied."

Kabumo's whole body felt numb.


	7. Regret

_Am I the only who died a little after reading Chapter 599 and 600?! D: I refuse to believe it! Those who abandon their friends are worse than trash, Obito!_

_Ahem. Now, on with this chapter (with an ambiguous ending. hehe)._

* * *

The Hokage clasped his hands in front of him on his desk. His eyes were sharp and narrowed as he glanced between the three ninjas in front of him. The taller of the two blonds before him bowed deeply. "Understood, Hokage-sama." the man stated. "Team Minato will depart for Kusa immediately."

The Hokage turned his attention to the silver-haired man beside the tall blond. Sarutobi could see the man's stiff posture and twitching fingers as though he was tempted to clench them tightly into a fist. Kabumo was good, Sarutobi noted. Not many could hide their feeling, especially such desperate ones, as he'd seen last night, so well.

His skills only made the Hokage more suspicious of the two. For who knows what else they were hiding from him? And _why_ was he so desperate to go to the Kannabi Bridge mission?

"Kabumo?"

"Understood." Kabumo spoke blandly, voice giving nothing away. "Narui and I will head towards the border of _Yu no Kuni _to assist the troops stationed there." _And try to avoid acknowledging that they were being placed as far away from Kusa as possible._

The old man gave a nod. "It is important," Sarutobi stated unnecessarily, "for you to provide distraction to divert Iwa's attention away from Team Minato's group. You are a key role in our strategy." he said.

Kabumo could plainly hear the message under his statement. The Hokage was making sure he knew how much they were being trusted, being place in such a major point of their plans. In other words, the Hokage wanted him to prove to him they were worthy of his trust and not disappoint him. But for once, Kabumo – no, Kakashi – could've cared less.

Kakashi could go through the motions; he could follow orders without fail for his village. He knew the importance of his role. But his heart ached so badly in his chest. The moment he realised that coming back to the past changed practically _nothing_, his soul felt ready to give in to the inevitable pain and suffering.

Naruto knew him long enough to realise something was wrong with his sensei, as the blond continued to flicker concerned gazes over at him.

Kabumo wished Minato could see what he was thinking. For once, he wanted to scream out to the world they were from the future; they knew what was going to happen; Obito was going to die if they didn't let him go with them, and screw messing up the world in the long-run. Screw being thrown into jail. Screw being seen as crazy, insane, cracked. Kakashi just wanted his comrade, his teammate, his friend, his _brother_ safe. He just wanted proof that they weren't just back into the past for decoration, and they _could_ actually _change_ the world for the better.

But Minato _couldn't_ see. He didn't understand because he didn't know what was going to happen, and how could _anyone_ believe or even begin to _imagine _that fanatical tale of time-travel?

"Dismissed," said the Hokage over Kabumo's internal turmoil.

Minato turned on his heel, breaking Kakashi's heart with every step he took, as he left towards the door without a look back.

"Sensei?" Narui whispered with a nudge of his elbow.

Kabumo nodded, eyes seeing nothing as he headed out the Hokage Tower. "Come along, Narui," he said, voice flat and dead. Maybe he shouldn't have made his student worry for him. And maybe he should've sucked it up like a big boy and live with the fact Obito would be gone, like he had for the past twenty years. But maybe he just didn't care to pretend anymore.

Reaching _Yu_ was not a tiring task. But every step killed the silver-haired man a little more. Every step he took towards the opposite side of what would once more be Obitio's death bed was like a drawn out suicide; small, deliberate stabs to the heart, waiting for that lucky strike to break it all down.

Had they been alone, Kabumo knew Narui would've said something –anything – seeing his sensei like this. He couldn't even hide it now, his depression – it was leaking through his crafted mask like it wasn't even there anymore.

But this, this was his single most regretted event of his life. Even now, he'd never been able to get over Obtio's death. And when given what seemed like the most unlikely of second chances, it was brutally snatched away again with a malicious grin. Fate loved to watch him suffer, didn't she?

Narui ran silently beside Kabumo, his cerulean eyes bore intently on him. Around them, Chuunins and a few Jounin accompanied their journey, undoubtly the other backup troops. Kabumo knew Narui wanted to talk, but the boy had enough sense not to do so with everyone around.

Kabumo didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse to be spared the need to talk about it. And if he could, he would ignore those inquiring eyes of Naruto's as long as he possibly could. Because sometimes, shoving things to the corner of his mind was the only way he knew he could live on without breaking down in the process.

And fine, call him hypocritical, after all he'd told little Kakashi. But this was the way _he_ had lived for the past twenty years. Sometimes old habits were hard to change. And maybe he had more hope for his younger self than he did for himself.

"Alright, men," A Jounin called out as soon as the group made it to their location. "We're spreading out from here onwards. Team Kisao, you're heading towards the camp furthest north. Team Jokan to the east. Team Kabumo-"

"Yes," Kabumo acknowledged.

"-you are heading deeper in. My team with me. Report to your individual captain when you make it to you spot. Understood?"

As the shinobi's all leaped towards their assigned directions, Kabumo tried to push a stern, blank face back on as he sped towards their squad captain. The silver-haired man feigned focused determination, eyes fixed solely on their target location – _anything -_ to get out of talking with his student.

It was not until Kabumo and Narui met their Captain and were assigned to their positions when Narui cornered his teacher. The boy's eyes flared with stubborn annoyance. The two were alone in a rocky trench. Having been order to watch over that area, the silver-haired man could not turn away and leave when the boy started asking questions. "Kakashi-sensei," Narui demanded stubbornly, voice conveying his utter persistence on the problem, "What's the matter?"

"_Kabumo,"_ the man stressed the name, fixing a look at the boy.

The blond huffed, "Whatever. What's wrong?"

Kabumo shook his head, eyes scanning the area. "Nothing, Narui. Just stay alert."

"No."

The absolute bluntness in his statement caught Kabumo's attention immediately, and the older man couldn't help snapping his head over to the boy. "No?"

"No," Narui repeated seriously. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"We have our orders and we _will _listen to them," Kabumo retorted strictly, his lone grey-blue eye fixed onto an icy stare.

His voice left no room for arguments, but since when did Naruto care about such things? "I don't care," Narui cried, "Something's been bothering you since this morning! Stop acting like your younger self and tell me what's going on!"

"There is _nothing_," the man snapped back.

For a second, Narui stayed quiet, perhaps shocked at his teacher snapping at him. And then the boy's blue eyes narrowed. "It's you," he said, "And you team." Confidence built every word as the boy figured out the problem. Kabumo's tensing arm gave Naruto all the indication he needed to know he was correct. "Something's going to happen to them, isn't it?" the boy accused.

Kabumo kept quiet.

"What's going to happen? Sensei!"

Kabumo tried to keep his voice as controlled as he could as he looked sternly over at his student. "Narui, we are nowhere near them. Team Minato can take care of themselves."

"But they _can't. _Not last time, and probably not this time either, and that's why you're worried," Narui refuted. His finger dug into his hair, trying to remember all he could about his sensei's past. "Dad's not going to die until I'm born, so it's either Rin or Obito," the boy mused frantically to himself. The blond looked up at Kabumo, face pleading the man to just tell him, even as his mind worked away. "Between Rin and Obito, the one who needs your help…" Cerulean eyes flashed in a moment of insight, catching a glimpse at Kabumo's covered face. "The Sharingan," Narui whispered. "It's Obito."

Something clogged his throat as Kabumo attempted to tell Naruto off. Words just refused to emerge, as the boy's phrase echoed involuntarily through his mind.

_It's Obito. It's Obito. It's Obito._

He _knew_ it was Obito. He _knew_. But he didn't need to hear it. He didn't need confirmation of Obito's death. "Leave it." Kabumo said, trying hard not to let his voice come out as plead.

"We said we were going to save everyone!" Naruto argued, glaring at his sensei.

"And we have _orders_ to stay _here_," Kabumo rebutted.

"The sensei I know wouldn't say this."

"Well, I am saying it now."

Narui let out a low growl at Kabumo's words. "Those who don't follow the rules are trash!" Naruto quoted heatedly at him, "and those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash!"

Kabumo forced himself to loosen up, never realising when he'd clenched his fists and stopped breathing. His eye flickered with hidden emotions. "I … know," he finally admitted, voice almost fading in the wind.

"Kakashi-sensei _never_ abandons his teammates," the boy continued, staring into the man's lone eye. His face was begging; pleading.

"_I know_," Kabumo repeated, in a loud whisper – a hiss. The ashamed tightening in his gut worsened.

"So why are you giving up on Obtio?" Narui begged. "Does he mean so little to you?"

"_Of course not."_ The silver-haired man couldn't help snarling defensively.

Perhaps the blond had expected this answer, for he didn't look the slightest put back by his sensei's tone. "Then why aren't we going to save him? He's your friend, and he's mine too! And you know what going to happen to him. So why aren't we going to save him?" Narui cried out.

"Because." _Because they couldn't without breaking orders. Because they were already being watched closely. Because Kakashi really, really wanted to, but could he risk saving one life only to be put on suspicion and be unable to save the many others to come? Was he really that selfish?_

"If you're not going, then I am!" Narui declared.

"Naruto," Kabumo said in a strict voice, stopping the boy in his tracks. "We can't. And this is _my_ problem."

"But-"

"We have orders we can't break, and Obito's on the others side of the Country. I can't do both at once," Kakashi finally explained dejectedly.

"Shadow clones, then," Naruto suggested stubbornly.

Kabumo shook his head softly. "I've considered it," he murmured through his mask. The sleepless night he spent yesterday was devoted to nothing but running possible scenarios through his mind. "I can either make one to leave here, or make one to send to Obito's mission. But I can't account for what will happen if they burst." Kabumo explained, pointing out the holes in the idea. "This was not my mission last time around, and I never paid attention to what happened in this area. Maybe the Iwa forces tried to invade from this point. Maybe not. But on the off chance that they did, I don't want to let down our village by not stopping them should my clone burst."

Kabumo looked away, continuing, "And should it burst over by Obito's mission, how can I save him then? I will be on the other side of the country watching Obito fall again." And he knew if he watched it a second time, this time his heart really would shatter into a million broken pieces. The man's voice lowered into a soft whisper. He looked wearily into his gloved hands, lost and helpless. "What am I willing to sacrifice? The end of a war, or the life of one boy?"

Narui's clenched fist shook by his sides at his sensei's words. "NO ONE!" the boy bellowed, eyes flaring in determination. "We're not sacrificing anyone! Keep making clones if they burst! Keep sending them over!"

Kabumo shook his head. "I don't have the ability to continuously make clones," he murmured quietly. "I don't have that much chakra to spare."

"But I do!" Narui cried, cerulean eyes widening in anticipation.

"But I'm not you."

"Then _I'll_ do it!"

"No," Kabumo rejected even before the blond could finish saying his sentence. "I'm not going to involve you in this," he stated harshly.

"But I'm the only one who can do this!" Narui countered in a pleading cry.

The masked ninja kept quiet, focus elsewhere, as the man tried hard not to give in to his student's tempting offer. Oh, he wanted so, so much to take it; to be able to save Obito by taking it. But that wouldn't be fair to Naruto, especially when Kabumo could so vividly predict the possible consequences the action would result in. And he really didn't want that to happen to the cheerful blond.

"Fine, I'll go myself," Narui snapped, suddenly enraged by the silence.

"Naruto," Kabumo barked.

The blond bit his lower lip, face contracting into a miserable grimace. "Why?" The boy managed to whisper out, holding back tears. _Why wouldn't sensei save Obito? _"Why won't you save him? Why won't you let me help? We're in this together!"

Kabumo closed his left eye, letting the eternally happy face of Naruto he'd seen yesterday assault his mind. How _could_ he let Naruto go? How could he pull Naruto along with his flimsy plans, full of holes and mistakes, and make Konoha suspicious of them both? How could he snatch away the loving atmosphere Naruto and Minato had because of his own selfish wants? If anything went awry, Kakashi wanted to be the only one in trouble. He _absolutely_ _couldn't_ take Naruto's smile away and drag Naruto down with him under Konoha's distrusting, guarding, scorning eyes; Minato's scorning eyes. "Do you honestly believe we're left here alone? Someone will come to check on us." Kabumo said instead, in place of his thoughts.

"Then they'll see my clone," Narui retorted, "and think I'm still here! Or I'll send clones to Obito's team instead!"

"But _you_ don't know what will happen to Obito, or where to find him."

"I- I'll get my clones to protect yours," the boy suggested hesitantly.

Kabumo shook his head. "I know how you fight; it's reckless brute force. You're not suitable for solo protection missions." They would be against trained Rock ninjas, and Kakashi knew his clone would have a high chance of dispelling before Kabumo had a chance to save Obito.

Nevertheless, Narui was relentless, face scrunching into a serious thinking face. "Then-" Narui began again, "Then we'll leave clones here! You said there was only a _chance_ they might invade from this point, right Sensei? It'll have a less likely chance of popping here, and we can save Obtio!" The blond's voice ended in an almost whining beg. Anything to save a teammate.

"It'll only be a clone. _Even were_ the Iwa nin not to attack, the captain, or _someone_, _will_ check up on us. A clone is still only a clone. If anyone looks close enough, they would be able to tell immediately."

"Can't we take the chance?"

Kabumo gave his blond student a grim stare, opting not to voice what the boy already knew.

But Narui wouldn't give in. "Please, Sensei." Narui begged again, eyelashes glimmering in pools of building tears by now. "_Please_."

_Don't!_ Kabumo wanted to shout at the boy, even as he outwardly pressed his lips into a strict thin line. The more Naruto begged, the quicker the crumbling of Kabumo's resolution to let Obito go was. But he couldn't bring Naruto into this.

"Please?" _No. _"Please?" _…no. _"Ple-"

"Stop it!" Kabumo snapped. He desperately tried to hold up the crumbling wall, but every time he touched it, the quicker it burst into dust. Kabumo owed Obito _so much_. Nothing of him except his verbal excuses wanted to leave Obito to die again, and even that was slowly becoming a lost cause. His brain knew it, his heart knew it, his soul knew it, and his body knew it, as Kabumo tried hard not to run off to his teammates' aid without consideration of the consequences.

"Let us save him," Kabumo dimly heard Naruto cry that one last time, voice breaking in misery.

Kabumo clenched his gloved fists, hand drifting unconsciously his covered eye where it stung slightly under the hitai-ate. Was it just him, or was Obito's eye threatening to cry at the idea of being abandoned once again? _That crybaby. That…_ "… fine."

The blond's head snapped up, staring disbelievingly at his teacher.

"I'll take a while to cross the country to Hidden Grass," Kabumo said instead of answering to Narui questioning gaze. "We're going now." _Before I change my mind._

From the corner of his eye, Kabumo saw a smile of relief slowly flooding on Narui's face. A small one wanted to grow on his own face, even as Kabumo tried to keep it down. But he couldn't help it, because suddenly, it felt like Obito was finally safe, and the icy needles poking his heart were finally detracting their claws. And finally, he could breathe once again.

The two of them took off together, leaving a clone behind. Kabumo ran soundlessly by Narui's side, keeping low to the ground to attract as little attention as possible. Kabumo tried to stay confident, but with each step, he knew the two of them were closer and closer to being exposed. The distance between the long journey from their post to Hidden Grass stretched too long for Kabumo's liking. They'd keep to the ground, the trees, behind rocks, every step of the way, making the journey agonisingly longer than it needed to be, and yet only a margin safer.

In an attempted to be ready for any attack from the Iwa troops, every possible path had at least one shinobi stationed for security. The silver-haired man had a hard time sneaking past his comrades without feeling a heavy guilt at the thought of abandoning his post; his duty to everyone village, just for his best friend. It seemed no matter what choice he chose, he would always feel guilty about it.

The two of them were barely half the way to Kusa when Kabumo suddenly flung himself behind a pile of fallen trees. Narui followed suit, even as he was still clueless of what had startled his sensei. "What?" the blond asked softly.

The Hatake blinked before jumping up. "Nothing." He headed towards the trees again, an intense look of concentration on his face.

It wasn't much later when the blond spoke up once again, noticing his teacher's odd behaviours. "_What?"_ Narui insisted, crouching low on a branch as he saw his teacher turn his head back in an increasing frequency.

Kabumo's single grey-blue eye flickered paranoid, searching for things he couldn't see. "Nothing," Kabumo finally said once more, after a moment. But he knew he couldn't just rely on his eyes. He could _see_ nothing, but… "Narui, head back," the man ordered suddenly.

"I'm not leaving you alone!" Narui cried incredulously. "I can help. We've been over this! We're almost there!"

"You shouldn't. If I get caught..." Kabumo began. But saying this would have no effect on the blond, Kabumo knew. The boy would do _anything _for his friends, and that's what made Naruto Naruto, no matter how frustrating it was at this very moment. "This has nothing to do with you. Say you didn't even notice I was gone," The silver-haired time-traveler tried once again.

"Make me," Narui said petulantly, as Kabumo expected.

He didn't want Narui to get into trouble. He couldn't drag him into this. Not when Naruto looked so happy with his father. He couldn't take something like that away from him; not when Naruto finally got to spend time with his family – his actual blood related family - for once.

In a last attempt, Kabumo rounded up on his student, leaning into his face in a threatening manner. "I am _ordering_ you as your Jounin Leader to return to you post. I can forbid you to from participating in anymore missions."

Naruto hesitated for a mere second before a fierce glare narrowed on his face. "You can't make me. You're not even a Jounin anymore," the blond retorted with a huff. "Besides, when we get back to the future, you'll probably be thanking me when you spend the day with Obito instead of moping in front of the memorial stone."

"I – Very well," Kabumo said grudgingly despite his admiration for his student's absolute resolution. "Let's keep going then," the man sighed.

With that, the two time-travellers continued their way, slower, more cautious, but never doubting their decision. They WERE going to save Obito.

**x**

- …or not.

When the Anbu with the glistening, ceramic Hawk mask landed in front of the two time-travellers, Kakashi knew why the seemingly empty terrain behind them had made him so paranoid. He'd sensed the Anbu, but Hawk had hidden himself well enough that Kabumo hadn't realised exactly _what_ he had sensed.

Hawk lowered himself into an offensive stance, ready to spring into action the moment he deemed the two before him to be any threat. "You have disobeyed direct orders from the Hokage," the Anbu stated in military stiffness. "Explain yourselves."

Kakashi tried to explain the situation as vaguely as he could, but it was impossible without explaining exactly _how_ he knew this information.

"We don't have time for this," Naruto snapped.

"Don't," Kakashi warned the boy beside him, whose fingers were already placed in his favourite hand seal. Naruto sent him a pleading look at his teacher's words, because _they were so god-damn close!_ Kakashi shook his head reluctantly, casting his eyes to the ground. "Don't," he repeated in a voice lower than a whisper, "Don't fight." Half of him wanted Naruto to resist his order and charge stubbornly on like he always did. The other half knew just how much of their plan of changing Konoha's future depended on the villages trust for them. And they could _not_ go against Konoha's Anbu military force. Not if they wanted to stay in Konoha.

"Come with us," the Anbu said, voice dry and uncaring. A subtle hint of threat could be heard under it.

"Understood," Kakashi answered.

"What about.." Naruto started in a soft, frantic whisper.

With a heavy heart, the silver-haired man shook his head once more. "Come along," he said. His lone grey-blue eye stared longingly into Hidden Grass even as he dragged Naruto with him, "Follow the Anbu."

They walked back towards the village together, feeling the hostile chakra of the Anbu, now accompanied by two others, surrounding them every step. Naruto dragged his feet the whole way, trying to prolong the journey back and _away_ from Obito's mission even as the military forces around them barked out orders to quicken up. Kakashi held his face tight, trying to let nothing show on his face, but it was so hard because they'd been so_, so _close.

So _very_ close.

"Halt," the Anbu, Hawk snapped suddenly. The five men group stopped before the village gates. Just as suddenly, with only a quick nod at the other two Anbus behind the two time-travellers, Hawk disappeared with a leap.

"Where's he going?" Naruto asked, looking around. The Anbus, as Anbus should, stood silently around the two, ignoring the question entirely.

Kakashi took pity on his confused student. "He's reporting to the Hokage," the masked man answered softly, remembering protocol when he'd still been in Anbu in his youth. He stared up into the sky, letting his past (and now the future once more) play across his mind, as his heart sunk lower. It wouldn't be long before little Kakashi learned these same protocols, with his heart closed and hurting, and a lying joker mask on his frozen little face.

It only took a few minute before Hawk came back. The Anbu tilted his head. "Follow me."

For a while, the whole group walked in a depressed silence before Naruto broke it once he noticed where the Anbu was leading them. "Aren't we going back to our spot?" Narui asked confused when the Anbu directed them towards another route. Kakashi knew the Anbu were afraid that they may have planted equipment there to spy or harm the Konoha troops, and they didn't want them to retrieve them back. Not that there would be any, no matter how hard they check. But the masked man knew better than to say it out loud.

"Hokage's orders," Hawk said plainly, never slowing a step, continuing his way to their new assigned position.

They weren't as far this time. In fact, their new location was right by the border of Fire Country and Hidden Grass, as if teasing them; temping them to forget orders and just go. Kakashi bit into his lower lip, resisting his urge and his knowledge that it was _just right there!_ But Kakashi knew better than to disobey orders twice. Heck, even Naruto knew better than that.

"Get to work," Hawk said coolly.

The Anbu gave them both a strict glare before bringing his hands together and disappearing from sight. Of course, neither Naruto nor Kakashi were foolish enough to think they were being left alone. Not after their last stunt.

"Sensei …" Naruto started softly, keeping his voice low, but there was nothing else he could say. It was _not _going to be alright, and Kakashi knew it too. The silver-haired man had seen what was going to happen – would happen – and no amount of hope could change that.

Kakashi shook his head weakly, working a placating smile on his face. "It's fine, Naruto," he whispered.

"But –"

Kakashi shook his head again. "No. I knew it would happen again. At least now, I can say I truly tried, instead of just standing in fear and shock," Kakashi knew his voice was cracking, and his eye was glistening in unshed tears, but the man forced himself to stand up tall. "Thanks for persuading me to try."

"I'm sorry for being an idiot. If only I had a better plan," Naruto said, looking as bad as Kakashi felt.

Naruto's heart touched Kakashi. The boy had been willing to risk his happy life with his father to disobey the Hokage with him. And now he was apologising for persuading Kakashi for doing something he knew Kakashi would've regretted for the rest of his life if he hadn't. The silver-haired man ran his gloved hand over the boy's blond hair. "No, it's fine," he murmured softly, "And if everything manages to say the same no matter how hard we try to fix it, I'll at least be happy knowing I get to have you as one of my precious students," Kakashi said lovingly.

That was one thing Kakashi could look forward to.

For two days the two fought diligently by the Fire Country-Hidden Grass Border. Putting his whole heart to keeping back the enemy-nin was all Kakashi could do to keep his mind off other, more painful, matters. The silver-haired man could feel Naruto's worried gaze as he pushed himself to the limit every hour. He could feel the Anbu's suspicious gaze as they fought long and hard for the village without a single word – without a single acknowledgement of what they had been caught doing days before.

That was fine with Kakashi. It was fine. In fact,_ everything_ was fine.

It _had_ to be fine. So it _was_ fine.

_Yes, it was._

* * *

**x**

Kakashi knew what was going to happen. He'd known and lived with it for twenty years. He'd managed to step in front of Obito's grave without breaking down for years now. But seeing the boy alive and happy for the past few months brought all his progress backwards.

He couldn't do it. He didn't want the evidence that Obito would be gone again. His heart – his soul – wouldn't be able to handle it.

Naruto had dragged him to the village gates, having heard word that Team Minato was coming back today. They themselves only arrived back to the village a littler earlier than the team did. Kabumo had followed, thinking he could deal with it. And if nothing, he could help save little Kakashi from his pain.

But he couldn't do it. Every time he looked up, all he saw were flashes of falling rocks and blurred scenery as he was being pushed aside. And then there was nothing but the void of darkness, and in the center of it all, Obito, Obito, _Obito, Obito, Obito, _and nothing more. All there was was Obtio with his crushed goggles, half buried under the rocks. Obito with his eyes glistening in pain, but also happiness at seeing Kakashi safe. Obito moving his mouth cheering them up, when all Kakashi wanted was for him to be able to keep talking forever. Obito giving him his most precious gift, when all he could do was sit there, unable to even tell the boy how much he owed him, how much he wished he could take back _everything_ he said about him.

How could he help his child-self when he couldn't even face the fact himself?

Naruto, beside Kakashi, could feel his sensei suddenly stiffening beside him. The boy narrowed his eyes, squinting, seeing what caught the older man's attention. In front of them, figures came closer, heading towards the village gates where they stood. The setting sun in the background behind the figures forced a bright glare into his eyes. All he could see were dark silhouettes moving closer and closer, but silhouettes were all the two needed in order to identify the incoming group.

_One, two, three,_ Kakashi counted in his head. His breath caught the same time Naruto did, both realizing the same point at the same time. _No fourth member._

Pale hands trembled as he stared at the returning team. No…

Kakashi's fingers clenched, digging nails in this his palm reminding him that yes, this _was_ reality. And no, there was no escaping it.

He'd known this was going to happen. He'd known _before_ it happened. But why did it still have to hurt so much? And why did he have to count like there _might've _be a fourth dragging his feet along with his team? Why was he still clinging on to that small, improbable, _impossible_ hope that Obito couldn't be … dead.

Two short figures walked slowly, limping every step. A taller figure walked beside them. Kabumo stared hard, unable to break his gaze on them.

His heart leaped suddenly as Kabumo make out a final figure. _It couldn't be … Obito? _Kabumo leaned forwards, eye widening; pleading. _It had to be, oh please_. The silver-haired man stared hard, focused on the dark silhouetted figure, but the figure, he wasn't moving. At all. Minato-sensei was carrying him on his back, and there wasn't even a twitch of movement from him. Not one.

Kabumo grabbed his own cold hands, trying not to let his tremors show as his gazed followed the limp outline of the fourth figure slung across Minato's back. _And he will never move ever again, _Kabumo's mind supplied him, even as the man tried not to think about it.

_Obito…_

He'd failed him. _Again_.


	8. Trust and Treason

**Chapter 8: Trust and Treason**

* * *

**The Kannabi Bridge mission:**

Little Kakashi was in a decidedly better mood when he made it to the training area that day. His mood was due to the quick healing of the bruises he received the day before from the Jounin Exams, of course. His Uncle last night said some really annoying things. The older Hatake's voice haunted his sleep all night long no matter how hard Kakashi tried to tune it out.

Honestly, he was better off ignoring whatever came out of his Uncle's mouth.

Kakashi stood calmly by the training grounds, forcefully shoving Kabumo's voice to the corner of his mind as he deliberately recited his pack's contents in an attempt to clear his mind. And to wait for the late Uchiha, of course.

Uchiha Obito grow up? As if. The boy couldn't even wake up on time.

Kakashi froze, realising he was back on his Uncle's topic once more. With a hiss, the boy shook his head, casing his mind to other matters. He really _didn't _want to think about the things his uncle preached at him.

_But why was it so hard not to?_

A bush to Kakashi's right shook violently at that moment; a tell-tale sign that Obito was here. Sparing a quick glance at Minato-sensei who was sitting on a rock in the middle of the training area, Kakashi let out a small huff, crossing his arms and waiting for the dead last to emerge.

"Did I make it?" a breathless voice called out, crashing to the ground just in front of Kakashi, just as the masked boy had calculated.

Kakashi stared down on Obito, face fixed into a scorning look. "You're late." he stated coolly.

"Uh, yeah…" The Uchiha began hesitantly, "Well, on the way, I had to show the way to and old woman carrying luggage, and –"

"I hear enough of that from Kabumo to know that's a lie!"

"Yeah, well, there was something in my eye too…" Obtio continued weakly.

Kakashi glared down on the Uchiha as Minato's calming voice called over to them. "Hey now you two, don't be like that. I'm sure Obito helped an old lady." he assured. "I warned Kabumo not to be late to _his _mission today regardless of old ladies, and Obito was probably just helping the dear lady Kabumo usually does."

"Yeah!" Obtio agreed readily.

Kakashi frowned. "Pushover." he muttered to Minato before giving the Uchiha another glare. "Ninjas who don't follow the rules and regulations are called trash." Kakashi began, beginning the rant of one of his usual topics.

Behind him, Kakashi could hear his sensei chuckling nervously like he wanted to contradict him. But the Hatake knew he wouldn't. Because he was right. After all, this was exactly what happened to his own father, and how could _anyone_ deny what happened in front of his own two eyes?

"Shut up!" Obito grumbled, "It's always about the rules with you. What about kindness?"

This was the idiot his Uncle thought he liked? This idiot who was a failure of a ninja who couldn't even tell he was giving them fine advice?

"Hey hey, stop it; you're both in the same team, right?" Rin interrupted, holding her hands out pleadingly. She looked worriedly between the two boys as Kakashi finally let out a breath.

"Fine. Today's an important day anyways."

"Yes." Rin grinned.

Obito blinked. "What? Important? Why?" The utter confusion the boy expressed gave Kakashi's chest an angry stab. How could Obito _forget_?

"Today is Kakashi's first day as a Jounin like myself." Minato replied, oblivious to the sudden clenching in Kakashi's chest. "And also the first mission he's going to lead."

"I told you about it, Obtio," Rin tsked, "to give Kakashi a present."

"Oh," the Uchiha glared towards the side, "I wasn't listening." he mutter with a bitter undertone.

This wasn't supposed to affect him. This wasn't supposed to annoy him. This wasn't supposed to make his chest hurt, so why did the Uchiha's words sting so much? "Tsh, it's not like I want anything from _you _anyways." Kakashi said out loud instead, pushing his hate into every word.

The blond Jounin interrupted the two before another argument could take place. "Here you go, Kakashi." Minato said, holding out a three pronged kunai. "It's a special kunai." he finished with a wink.

"And this is from me!" Rin cried enthusiastically presenting him with his own medical pouch.

Kakashi thanked them both, before sneaking a glance at the staring raven-haired boy beside him. He held out his hand.

"What?" Obito snapped, "I'm not giving you ANYTHING!"

"Oh? Then how about you be useful and carry my stuff?" Kakashi replied dryly, almost unable to keep the scorning tone out of his voice.

"Don't you look down on me!" Obito snarled suddenly, jumping into an offensive stance. "I'm Uchiha Obito from the great Uchiha Clan! I _will_ surpass you and defeat you!" The goggled boy declared, glaring down Kakashi.

"Boys." Minato snapped. The team looked over at him as the blond sighed gently, leading them under a shaded tree. "Can I explain the mission now? We're almost at the country border."

Kakashi nodded, focusing on the map his sensei laid out before them. Beside him, his teammates listened just as intently, but unlike his teammates, Kakashi's thoughts were elsewhere, unable to free his mind from the web his Uncle's story threw over him the night before.

All that was running through his mind was Kabumo's grand speech. But… be friends with the Uchiha? Ha! Kakashi could care less for the deadlast. And it was obvious Obito didn't like him either. So why should _he_ be the nice one around someone who hated him just as much?

_And what did his Uncle know about them anyways?_

Kakashi stared at his own hand, wondering why he'd held it out expectantly to the Uchiha. Obito already said he forgot, so it was obvious the boy wouldn't have anything for him. So why did he hold out his hands? Was he honestly hoping the Uchiha was just kidding? Was he honestly hoping for a present from the deadlast?

…_was he hoping that the Uchiha, the kind Uchiha who was nice to EVERYONE, show him same kindness… even when he, Kakashi with his icy frozen heart, didn't deserve it?_

"Team Kakashi, your mission is to sneak behind the enemy and destroy the bridge so they cannot receive their supplies." Minato's sharp voice suddenly cut through.

"Yes sir." Kakashi replied with the rest of his team without a second thought.

The blond nodded. "Good. I will be in the frontlines diverting their attention away from your group." the man added. "Let's go to the border. The mission starts now."

* * *

While Konoha had always been a lush village filled with trees, Hidden Grass could not be rivaled. As the team trekked further and further past their country border, the trees grew larger, the grass greener, and even the mushrooms seemed oversized. Konoha had nothing on Hidden Grass.

Perhaps it was because Kakashi was trying hard to concentrate on everything around him other than his own mind, that he noticed the enemy nins surrounding them right away. It was also the reason why he'd accidentally stopped unnaturally, alerting the enemy he'd noticed them, instead of discreetly informing his teammates.

"There's twenty of them. Maybe more." Minato informed the group as soon as they were hiding safely behind a large root.

"Let me handle it." Kakashi replied immediately, wanting to make up for the mistake he'd made already. "It's a great chance to try out my new jutsu." Without waiting for an answer, the silver-haired boy clutched his right hand, allowing crackling lightening chakra to build up in his hands.

"Don't." Minato said softly, holding his hand in front of the masked boy, stalling him.

From the corner of his eyes, Kakashi could see the concern on his sensei's face, but he wouldn't have it. "_I'm_ the commander this time, and I can take them out in a second. Just watch me." Kakashi stated strongly.

Maybe, yes – just maybe - , he wasdoing this mainly for himself and not the team, but the result was still going to be the same. He had to prove he _was_ strong. He had to prove he wasn't a child, no matter his age, and no matter what Kabumo said. He'd stopped being a child long ago; he was independent and he was _strong._ He didn't need the help of _anyone _but himself.

"_Chidori." _Kakashi hissed out, plunging into the woods where the enemy ninjas hid themselves.

Metal kunai clanged against one another as Minato, behind him, shot down the weapons aimed towards him. Kakashi focused on where to kunai originated from, mentally marking down each and every location of the enemy.

Swiftly, the enemy fell, one by one, as the chirping of birds of his chidori echoed through the forest.

"One more." Kakashi thought determinately to himself as he rushed forwards. The world around him was blurry from the speed he was moving at. It was only too late Kakashi noticed the man had already unsheathed his sword and branded it towards his speeding body. But there was no longer enough time to stop. It was too late-

"_Ooph_." Kakashi breathed out as he was deposited on the grass from the strong grasp of his sensei. In another blink, their sensei was gone again in a yellow flash, leaving Kakashi with his other two teammates in their hiding spot.

"Your arm!" Rin exclaimed suddenly. It was only then Kakashi realised he had been hurt. His arm bleed profusely from the deep cut the enemy gave him.

"Let's head back to camp. Your wound needs to heal." Minato suddenly said, back with the group once more. A glance at the bloody kunai in his sensei's hand told Kakashi all he needed to know about where the man disappeared off to a second ago.

"I'm fine." Kakashi bit out, suddenly ashamed of his own rushed actions.

"What do you mean, 'fine'? You think everything is about you, rushing off and disobeying sensei's order! What kind of commander are you?" Obito yelled at him.

The silver-haired boy shot him a glare. "I don't need to listen to anything you say." Kakashi snapped back at the boy. "What were _you_ doing the whole time? Cowering and crying like a scared baby at the sight of them."

"Boys! Stop it!" Minato barked, voice holding a stricter tone than any of the three heard before. The blond's eyes narrowed slightly, fixing a stare at each of them. "I've said it before." the man stated strictly, "and I'll continue saying it. The most important thing to a shinobi is teamwork. Sometimes we have to adapt to the situation; the rules and regulations are not everything."

Kakashi lowered his gaze, feeling the others doing so as well. "And Kakashi," Minato began again, voice softer thins time, but never losing that metallic touch, "Don't use that jutsu anymore. It's fast and has a powerful destructive power, but your movements are so fast you can't see your opponent's counter until it's too late. It's an incomplete jutsu."

Kakashi kept quiet, clenching his fist, but he nodded all the same. "Good." Minato replied. "Let's go back to camp now."

Kakashi nodded stiffly as he followed after his sensei. Beside him, Rin gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Kakashi; I'll bandage it right up for you, and you'll be as good as new."

**x**

The day after, Minato and Team Kakashi split up, going at their individual missions. Team Kakashi's mission was going smoothly in Kakashi's opinion, until Rin suddenly disappeared.

Obito immediately rushed after the Iwa shinobi retreating with Rin, when Kakashi stopped him with a shout. The Uchiha turned back, eyes aflame. "What are you talking about? We have to go after them!"

"She won't be killed right away." Kakashi pointed out logically in a deadpan, his emotional state the exact polar opposite to the raven-haired Chunin's. "The enemy will likely interrogate her for our aims before merely holding her prisoner. Rin's a medic-nin, and as long as she looks after the enemies' casualties, she'll be treated well. We will finish our mission _before_ the enemy finds out."

Kakashi watched as Obito grinded his teeth in frustration. "What about Rin _safety?!"_ the boy exploded out. "Is that less important than our mission?"

"We signed up to do this once we entered the Shinobi force. There will always be danger and sacrifices."

Obito's fists trembled at his sides. "After all Rin has done for us; patching us up whenever we're hurt?! Always making sure we're okay? I'm going to rescue Rin! I don't care what you say!"

"_I_ am your commander." The silver-haired Jounin retorted back at him in a low, firm voice. "I was given this role because I am fit to make proper decision. You are letting your emotions run free." There was only a slight pause before Kakashi continued on. "Emotions are unnecessary things. Shinobi are tools, and we _finish_ the mission no matter what."

Kakashi tried not to think too deeply about it when Obito's ebony eyes widened into a disbelieving, _pitying_ look. "You … do you _really_ believe that?" the boy asked in a pleading voice.

Kakashi's heart seemed to thud harder at the words, as his mind threw up images and conversations he'd rather not dwell on ever again. "Yes." he hissed out before it got out of hand. "Of course I do. That is the way of a ninja. Don't be so naïve! What happens to those who don't follow the rules …"

"I believe the White Fang was a hero." Obito murmured softly, interrupting Kakashi. His tone was quiet, but the sheer strength he conveyed in those words stopped Kakashi's speech in its tracks. Obito's eyes suddenly snapped upwards, meeting Kakashi's blue-grey eyes in a fierce glare. "You say those who don't follow the rules are trash," he spat out, "but those who abandon their friends are _worse_ than trash." The boy suddenly turned around and furiously ran towards the enemy's hideout where Rin was being held hostage without another look back.

The Chunin's words echoed in the wind as Kakashi grinded his teeth, hands shaking in tightly clenched fists_. How dare he - what did he know? _The silver-haired boy turned sharply on his heels, determinately heading away from Obito.

_That stupid idiot; talking about things he didn't know. Stupidly ignoring the mission … disobeying direct orders …_

"Damn it." Kakashi hissed out to himself as his strides gradually slowed down to a stop. He laid a gloved hand on his stomach, trying to force up his anger at Obito – _anything_ to get rid of that uneasy feeling inside.

_Stupid, stupid deadlast…_

"_After all Rin has done for us; patching us up whenever we're hurt?! Always making sure we're okay?" Obtio._

"_Don't worry Kakashi; I'll bandage it right up for you, and you'll be as good as new." Rin._

Kakashi pressed his hand harder against his stomach.

"_The most important thing to a shinobi is teamwork. Sometimes we have to adapt to the situation; the rules and regulations are not everything." Minato-sensei._

"_He was a coward, hiding behind the word of rules._ _He was afraid to think for himself and simply did what he was told without question._ _…why are you shoving away your emotions when you feel you can't deal with them?_ _Why do you think there are people around you for? " Kabumo._

"_Do you __**really**__ believe that? … I believe the White Fang was a hero."_

"…"

With an annoyed hiss, Kakashi turned around, sprinting towards Obito, hating himself, yet feeling weights roll off his back with every step. He was a hypocrite. He was a disgraceful ninja, abandoning his mission just like his father, and yet, for some odd reason the only thing on his mind was his teammates. He couldn't let them die.

And as he was running, Kakashi didn't know, but he had already changed the future. That minute he'd taken to make up his mind because of his Uncle's additional nagging was all that was needed for the future to change drastically. He had made up his mind ten seconds sooner than he would've had had Kabumo not been there, and that ten seconds shifted everything out of place.

He was ten seconds sooner getting to Obito.

Ten seconds sooner to notice the enemy.

Ten seconds sooner to draw out his father's memento.

Ten seconds sooner to attack.

Ten seconds sooner to avoid what would've been a fatal slice at his left eye that once upon a time he'd been seconds too late to dodge.

Kakashi panted, perched on a thick tree branch, straining his ears to pick up the sounds of the enemy who'd slipped away once more. Blood gushed down his face from the partial cut he received clean through his left eyebrows, but nothing lower.

"Kakashi!" Obito exclaimed in fear.

"The enemy is skilled." the masked boy mused, before glancing up at the crying Uchiha with an exasperate sigh. "Something in your eye again? Stop crying; he just nicked me. I dodged before he could gouge my eye."

Kakashi let out another sigh as Obito scrubbed furiously at his tearing eyes. Yet, he couldn't help that sudden bubble in his chest seeing Obtio cry for his sake. Nevertheless, "Keep up your guard; he's still out there somewhere." Kakashi murmured quietly.

His head spun slightly from the rapid blood loss, but Kakashi bit his lip as he tried to bear it and focus on the environment. He didn't have time to bandage it with the enemy still around, and he still had to cover Obito's back because who knows what would happen if he left the idiot all alone?

Kakashi could feel the goggled boy shaking behind him, hand clutching firmly a kunai. He'd expected that Obito was still crying and too afraid to move, and that's why when the raven-haired boy suddenly turned around so sharply, Kakashi feared the Iwa nin grabbed him.

"Obito!" Kakashi cried, leaping up from his spot on the branch. He didn't know when he'd started caring for Obito so much, but Kakashi could feel the utter _fear_ in his stomach for his teammate just then. Kakashi spun his head towards Obito's spot, body coiled and ready to leap out to defend the Uchiha.

But the Uchiha wasn't snatched. The Uchiha _ran_ out himself, kunai brandished and stabbing something even _Kakashi_ didn't notice. "NOBODY HURTS MY FRIEND!" Obito cried out angrily, thrusting out his kunai in one smooth movement.

_Obito? Friend?_

The air shimmered in front of Obito revealing the enemy nin, blood spouting in the man's mouth. "How?" the man coughed out, falling to the ground.

Kakashi watched Obito turn around, his eyes suddenly drawn up to Obito's eyes. _Obito's swirling red eyes. _"The Sharingan." he whispered out in amazement.

"Yeah," the raven-haired boy agreed distractedly, staring into his own hands. "I can see the movement and flow of chakra." Obito looked up at the movement as Kakashi suddenly raised his hand to wipe the blood out of his eyes. Immediately, Obito's face drained of colour. "It's bleeding so much." the goggled boy whispered out in a trembling voice. Kakashi looked up to see Obito staring at him. The Uchiha's hand clenched and unclenched rapidly like he wanted to help but didn't know what to do, while his eyes stared mesmerised by the glistening, flowing blood.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "It's a head wound. Of course it's bleeding so much, Idiot." The masked boy couldn't help the almost endearing tone on the insult, unable to stop the Obito's strong declaration of 'friend' from echoing through his head.

"B-but-"

_What happened to the Idiot's bravery? _"Obito." the silver-haired boy barked. "Snap out of it. I'm not going to die."

"Y- Yeah, I know that."

"Good." Kakashi reached behind him and drew out Rin's medical pouch. For a few seconds, the masked boy couldn't help but stare it at, a guilty feeling rising from his stomach at the idea that he'd even considered leaving her. "I have Rin's kit. Let's patch it up and rescue Rin."

"Ah- yes." Obito nodded. The boy swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yes." he said again, voice stronger this time. "Let's save Rin."

Getting into the cave was easy after having defeated the guarding ninja outside already. It wasn't long before the two boys found Rin tied up at the end of the cave, another Rock ninja looming over her.

"Rin's chakra flow's irregular." Obito said immediately, activating his sharingan.

Kakashi nodded. "She's under a genjutsu, most likely – to get information from her quickly." Obito nodded beside him, likely storing that piece of knowledge away for the future.

"So what do we do now?" He asked.

The moment Kakashi turned to look at the Uchiha, the Iwa-nin noticed them, turning around and starting a grand, mocking speech. Kakashi ignored it, trying to convey his plan through his eyes to Obito instead. And then, with trust in Obito, Kakashi leaped into action, heading straight for the enemy nin.

It was brilliant, in a way, Kakashi had to admit. Obito had kept the enemy's arms down while Kakashi could freely attack the man without fear of retaliation. Alone, it would've taken Kakashi forever just to even land one hit. But together … perhaps this was why Minato kept harping on and on about teamwork and trust in the team. It was _efficient_.

"_Kai!"_ Kakashi called out the moment he landed in front of Rin. The girl's eyes snapped back into focus as Obtio and himself worked in tandem to check over the girl for injuries. There was an almost knowing look on Rin's face Kakashi pretended he didn't see, as the girl saw them working so well together.

"You think you've gotten away?" A harsh voice sounded behind the trio. Three pairs of eyes honed on the Iwa-nin who'd stood up once more, hands pressed into a starting seal._"Doton! Iwa yado kuzushi!"_(Earth Style: Rock Lodgement Destruction) the man cried out quickly, before the group could even react.

The cave rumbled dangerously as the rocks overhead started to shower gravel on top of them. "Move out! Quickly." Kakashi called already racing to the entrance as he gestured for his teammates to hurry up. His two blue-grey eyes surveyed the terrain as he ran, efficiently dodging any of the falling stones. Kakashi never realised how lucky he was, due to a mere ten second difference earlier that day.

By the time Team Kakashi reached the entrance of the cave, they were all accounted for, all none too worse for wear. The three of them skidded to a stop in front of the collapsed cave, where their eyes widen as the surveyed the mess outside. A mass of backup Iwa-nin littered around the cave entrance, each one looking meaner and stronger than the last.

"We can't take all of them down." Rin whispered softly, eyes calculating as she tried to make out every one of them. Kakashi bit into his lips under his mask, knowing she was correct. They'd avoided one danger and plunged straight into another.

The silver-haired boy tried to stay calm as he felt his teammates fidget anxiously beside him as the enemy started some sort of gloating speech. Kakashi ran over all the possibilities, before ending up with nothing but a single route. "I can do it." he murmured lowly to his teammates.

The two of them glanced at him from the corner of their eyes. "How?"

"The _Chidori_."

Obito let out a muted gasp. "You _can't_. Remember what happened last time?" he hissed out just as Rin muttered, "But Sensei forbad you from using it anymore."

"I know." Kakashi whispered harshly. "But it's our only way." He stared his teammates in the eyes. "Look, I can get them, but I as sensei said, I can't see my opponent's counter until it's too late. I-" Kakashi took a breath. "I need your help. When I'm attacking them, I need you two to take care of anyone or anything about to hit me."

Obito clenched his fists, looking unsure, scared of the responsibility placed upon him. "But-" he began.

"I trust you." Kakashi cut in, staring determinately into the other boy's eyes.

For a second, Obito seemed to quiver, before the Uchiha suddenly straightened out his back, and let his sharingan whirl. "You can count on me." he declared, his every sign of worry warping into confidence. "I'll cover your back."

Kakashi nodded, before reaching down and pulling his weapons pouch off his belt. He threw it over to Obito without hesitation. "In case you run out." the silver-haired boy said seriously, before reaching for his right hand again, and letting chakra build up on it.

"Got it." Obito replied. The raven-haired boy closed his eyes briefly before opening them up to furiously spinning sharingans once more.

"Ready?" Kakashi asked. At Obito's nod, Kakashi was gone.

The silver-haired Jounin was nothing more than a white blur of chakra as he sped at the Iwa ninja. In his wake, he left fallen shinobi, all clutching various parts of their bodies where a burnt gaping wound appeared. Behind him, in the safety of large shielding rocks of the cave, Rin and Obito successively threw kunai after kunai, deflecting anything thrown Kakashi's way. If the Chunin were lucky, they even managed to down a man before he got too close to their teammate.

The three of them managed this system for a while, before Kakashi, amidst throwing back another enemy nin, admitted to himself that it would only be a matter of time before they could no longer keep this up.

And how right he was.

A kunai from Obito whizzed past Kakashi's ear, but even at the speed he was moving at, the silver-haired boy could see that the weapon missed its mark. The Rock ninja continued rushing forwards, even as the Hatake desperately tried to change his course. But his speed was too great, there wasn't enough time –

"Kakashi, watch out!" the masked boy dimly heard Obito shouting.

Kakashi sensed Obito running forwards, perhaps trying to intercept the attack with his own body, even as a rapid succession of kunai flew past trying to hit the rock ninja. But he wouldn't be able to make it, Kakashi could tell. Obito couldn't match his speed.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes in that short millisecond, focusing his attention on keeping the charging sphere in his hand stable. "_It's really a shame, when the moment he finally accepted someone for who they were; finally forgave himself; finally saw the whole world past that bricked wall he built himself, the one he owed it all to was snatched away from this world. Never knowing how much the boy owed him." _Kabumo's story echoed through Kakashi's mind.

If Kakashi failed, who would help the deadlast from this predicament? If he was going to fall, he was going to take the enemy with him. And Obito; Obito would be safe, because Kakashi owed him that much, and he definitely was going to repay him.

Kakashi thrust his hand forwards, hoping; pleading, it would reach before that gleaming sword in the enemy's hand could penetrate though his own chest. If he timed this right, he could take out a majority of the enemies before he bled out. And if this was the only way to save his teammates – "_I believe the White Fang was a hero" –_ then so be it.

"NOO!" Obito's howling scream echoed.

Kakashi heard the sword cutting through the wind, aimed for his heart in a swishing motion, and then– Kakashi's head rang_, _thrown into a splitting pain as spots cover his vision. Through the haze, he felt a strong clenching in his stomach – _was he stabbed?_ He tried to run, but it just somehow wouldn't work, and _this wasn't what was supposed to happen!_ How would he save Obtio and Rin now? How could he save them, if all he could see was splotches of black, and yellow, and… _Yellow?_

Suddenly Kakashi could see again, feeling himself flying backwards. The boy blinked, staring up into the smiling face of his teacher who'd just thrown him out of his strong hold. What was Minato-sensei doing here?

"Got you!" Kakashi dimly heard Obito say, as the goggled boy caught him and cushioned his fall.

The Hatake jumped up immediately at the voice. "Obito." he cried, snapping his head over to check over the boy, "Are you alright?"

Obito smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine thanks to sensei." Kakashi glanced over at the yellow flash that was Minato-sensei, confusion on his face. Obito caught the other boy's question at once. "You know that weird kunai sensei gave you yesterday? I was throwing kunai out of your pouch when I grabbed that one by mistake. I threw it 'cause I didn't have time to exchange it for another one. And then sensei suddenly appeared when I let go of it."

"That worrywart." Kakashi muttered, shaking his head at the audacity of their sensei rigging his own present. But for once, Kakashi was thankful for Minato's overprotectiveness. Who knows how horribly this battle would've ended had sensei not been there?

As quick as he'd been up in the front lines, if not quicker, Minato defeated all the Iwa-nins before him, quickly rushing up to his team to moment he was certain there wasn't anyone more hiding. "Boys, Rin, what happened?"

Kakashi sat in front of Rin as her hands glowed green, healing his many wounds. While Obito was willing and determined to knock the incoming kunai out of path, he was still the deadlast. Kakashi's many puncture marks were proof of that.

Rin looked up from her work, ashamed and unable to look her sensei in the eye. "Sorry, if it weren't for me getting caught-"

"It's my fault." Kakashi interrupted. "As a commander, I was not able to watch out for my teammates, and made the decision to abandon the mission for Rin."

"No! Kakashi's a great commander! I just ran off against his orders!"

"Ah, and I should've been paying attention to my surrounding."

"But I made the decision to drop the mission in the end."

"Yeah, but it's my fault I refused to listen to you, and-"

Minato gave out a loud laughed, before waving his hands at his bickering team to get their attention. "Alright, alright; I think I know what happened."

Kakashi dropped his head. "The mission…" the boy began.

"-is not finished yet." Minato finished for the silver-haired jounin. "There's still time to finish it, isn't there?" he pointed out.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed, "but as the commander, I should've done my mission, and-"

"-left Rin?"Minato suggested softly. The blond shook his head, looking sadly into the sky. "I can't speak for you three, but you're all family to me. If I were in your place, I wouldn't have had been able to continue the mission knowing one of you might've been killed while I was doing so. That's not how ninjas are expected to act, but everyone forgets that we are human too. We have feelings and we have families like everyone else." Minato smiled, ruffling Kakashi's hair in a grateful manner. "I think you did the right thing. Thank you for saving Rin."

A warm bubbling feeling tickled in Kakashi's chest at his sensei's actions. Beside the blond, Obito nodded fervidity at Minato-sensei's words, and Rin beside him did the same, a sincere smile on both their faces.

Kakashi felt his face heat up in embarrassed, unfamiliar at being at the receiving end of such heartfelt smiles. The boy coughed into his hand. "Right," he said stiffly, turning his head away, "Let's finish the mission, then." The boy turned sharply, walking towards the general direction of the Kannabi Bridge, only picking up his pace when he felt the others following him.

"_He's embarrassed~!" _Kakashi heard Obito croon from behind.

"Shut up and do your job." Kakashi snapped, face flushing at the boy's words. Obito's infectious laugher rang out cheerily, enticing both Rin and Minato-sensei to join in. "I changed my mind; I still don't like you, Obito." Kakashi shot out. But they all could tell he didn't mean it.

* * *

**After the mission:**

The sun was on their backs as Team Seven walked back towards their village. Halfway through the journey back, Rin had let out a loud yawn and Minato looked amused over at her before asking if she wanted a piggy-back ride the rest of the way.

She'd accepted just to annoy the boys – or rather Obito, who had whined about wanting one too.

"Oh look, we have a welcome party." Minato pointed out as they neared the Konoha Gates, one hand supporting Rin as his other pointed straight ahead. Kakashi glanced up, a building smile on his face as he noticed his Uncle. There seemed to be a frantic look on the man's face, but the boy listed it off as worry. Because honestly, that man, like sensei, was _such_ a worrywart.

Kakashi was starting to feel happy, enjoying that bubbling joy inside, when he noticed how the ever-dazed look had yet to retreat from Kabumo's face. He bit his lip nervously, hoping nothing was wrong with Kabumo. Beside Kabumo, Narui who had been in a daze of his own, suddenly seemed to snap out of it and abruptly shook his Uncle with vigour.

Kabumo's face seemed to quiver and break down before filling up with such liveliness, Kakashi didn't know _how_ it was even possible.

"You're all safe!" Kabumo called out with relief in his voice the moment the team passed through Konoha's gates. The man let his single eye wash over Minato before landing on the small figure of Rin on the blond's back.

"Of course; it was nothing." Obito answered for the whole team, acting like it was the simplest mission they'd ever been on.

Kabumo grinned at him and patted the raven-haired chunin on the head (and heck, even gave him a tight hug!) before turning to Kakashi. "How was your first mission as a Jounin?" he asked. Kakashi might've imagined it, but the way his Uncle asked the question seemed almost hinting at something deeper. Like he _knew_ something had happened on the mission.

Like he knew how Kakashi had finally made friends with Obito. Like he knew how Kakashi finally understood what everyone had been trying to tell him. Like he knew how Kakashi finally felt _free _from all his self-placed constraints_._

"Successful." Kakashi answered succinctly, because somehow he felt certain Kabumo would understand from merely that.

The mask on the older Hatake's face stretched as the man smile. His pale, gloved hand slowly drifted up to his covered left eye, almost in an unconscious motion. "That's great." he said softly. "I'm glad."

Kakashi nodded, his body warm. He didn't even notice the enthusiastic chattering of Narui and Obito off to the side as the Uchiha dramatically talked about all he was allowed to about the mission.

"Well, I don't know about all of you, but I think we all need a rest after that mission." Minato pointed out as he slowly lead his team back into the village.

Obito agreed happily as Kakashi matched his pace with his Uncle. The silver-haired boy peeked expectantly at his Uncle from the corner of his eye, watching as the man's face quirk into a grin. "I'll make you something to eat when we get home." Kabumo answered.

Kakashi shrugged, making himself look like he didn't mind. "If you want to, I suppose." he responded, pressing his lips into a line to stop himself from smiling.

"Nothing tastes better than eggplant miso soup –" Kabumo started to say, just as he was halted by the suddenly appearance of an Anbu, directly in their path.

"Apologies." The masked shinobi addressed to Minato before darting forwards at them. Kakashi tensed as the Anbu approached, but the shinobi wasn't looking at him at all.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi cried out as the Anbu harshly pulled his Uncle away before reaching for Narui as well.

"These two are being taking in for questioning."

Kakashi felt himself freeze for a millisecond before shooting out a confused "Why?" just as Minato asked "What happened?" in a sharp, military manner.

"Treason." the Anbu answered simply, violently whisking Kabumo and Narui away from him in a whirl of leaves.

Kakashi tried to keep his face impassive - tried not to let the sudden jolt of betrayal he felt from his Uncle show on his face. But the boy wasn't sure how well he faired when Minato-sensei placed a comforting hand on his back not a moment later.

_Treason?_

* * *

A/N: _Eh, what can I say? I couldn't kill off Obito. That being said, I think I should warn you people that Tobi will, in fact, be Madara in this fic -since I've already said it was Madara in chapter one and all. Besides, I already have plans to include the info we learn from these later Naruto chapters in the fic "The Hidden Prodigy" (Haha, I keep mentioning it. I __swear__, it'll be up soon.) and I don't want the two fics to be too similar._

_Why did Kakashi think the person on Minato's back was Obito instead of Rin? Because that was what his frantic mind had expected. And the silhouettes he saw coming towards them morphed into what his fear had expected to see._

_And no, the Anbu did not purposely drag Kakashi and Naruto away in front of Team Minato for them to see. Like I said in ch7, the two of them only arrived back at the village a little while earlier as well. It was just bad timing. D:_


	9. Interrogation

_A/n: I promised some people that I would have this chapter out by the end of April, but that clearly didn't happen. On the bright side, at least I was close? I mean it's only a week over, yeah?_

_Oh, and before I forget, to those who don't know yet, 'The Hidden Prodigy' (that other time-travel one I was going on about) is actually up! Gasp. And now the first three stories on my profile are all Kakashi-centric time-travels. I cannot fully express the giddiness I feel from this. XD_

* * *

Kakashi found himself being led into a cell the moment he got his bearings. Naruto was nowhere to be seen, but Kakashi suspected the young blond was getting the same treatment. There was no doubt in Kakashi's mind that they placed in separate cells as far away as each other as possible; it was the logical thing to do. Kakashi understood why, but he hated the idea of leaving his student to fend for himself.

_Treason_, the Anbu had said.

_Treason: the betrayal of ones own country (or village, in this case) by acting against it – attempting to overthrow the Leader, or aiding the enemy_.

Kakashi hated that word. He knew the severity of the situation, especially considering they were in a ninja village where the safety of the village was everything to them. And he also knew how badly this looked for the two time-travelers.

He really should not have dragged Naruto into this. Being suspected of treason was a harsh enough, but it was especially worse with the way the Anbu had revealed their offence in front of the ones they cared most about, in that bland, uncaring tone, without a drop of remorse. Kakashi's stomach was already gnawing on itself, trying not to think about how his younger self must have been thinking about this whole thing, and the idea of how much that situation must have affected Naruto only doubled that frantic state of turmoil into something that was overfilling his mind.

Kakashi didn't have the chance to glance over at his precious student to see the boy's reaction when they were viciously yanked away from the group. But Kakashi could guess at it, and was heart breaking; bad timing or not, Naruto shouldn't have had to been incriminated of treason in front of his own father of all people.

Naruto was just an innocent child (well, maybe not completely innocent consider he _was_ a shinobi. But to Kakashi, Naruto would always be that loud, obnoxious twelve-year-old who tried to prank him the first second they met). The boy wasn't fit to be place under the gruesome grilling of the Torture and Interrogation Squad – especially after that devastating accusation.

The silver-haired man shuffled impatiently along the dusty holding cell. He wanted nothing more than to just get the interrogation over with, but waiting was part of the game. Because with every passing new second, doubt and worry grew a little more – not that Kakashi didn't have mountain full of anxiety plaguing his every thought already.

It was much, much later when an Anbu finally appeared before Kakashi, with nothing more than a sharp nod to direct the silver-haired time-traveler to the bars of the cell. Kakashi kept silent and held out his hands, recalling procedure. He tried to keep his posture relaxed even as the Anbu slapped on chakra-repressing cuffs with a sharp, stinging flick of the wrists.

"This way," the Anbu said succinctly, walking in front of the restrained man while a second presence followed them in rear.

Kakashi trailed dutifully, hoping at the very least 'good behaviour' counted for something to whatever decision they decided for his and Naruto's fates.

To be absolutely honest, Kakashi wasn't too worried for his own interrogation; he had plenty of practice – almost thirty years' worth of experience in the shinobi arts drilled into his mind. What Kakashi feared most was how the situation would affect Naruto. The blond had suffered through scorning for majority of his life for something he was burdened with the moment he was born, and yet he still enthusiastically devoted his life to protecting his village. Naruto was a loyal ninja through and through – more faithful and dedicated to Konoha than most could even imagine. And now, for this, for some stupid mistake Kakashi made (and it _was _Kakashi's fault, no matter how hard the boy would try to argue against it), Naruto would have to suffer yet again, in the hands of shinobi he'd already won the love and loyalty of in the future. The Jounin only hoped it wouldn't hurt Naruto's cheerful, optimistic mentality as much as he was imagining it would.

Because if that was the case, Kakashi didn't know if he could ever forgive himself for it.

Lost in his own thoughts, it wasn't long before Kakashi was lead into his designated interrogation room. It was an empty room, devoid of any furniture except for a desk and two stiff wooden chairs. There were wide, daunting, reflective walls that covered all three sides of the wall Kakashi wasn't facing, reflecting back his slouched, lonesome figure in the room. Anyone with any sense could tell immediately those reflective walls were one-way mirrors, showing every twitch he made to the unnamed amount of ninjas watching from the outside. It was a room designed for intimidation, boldly stating to Kakashi that nothing he could do would be missed. But then again, it was also intimidation in a relatively non-threatening way, Kakashi had to admit, recalling all the other rooms in the building that housed the Intelligence Division that he could've been place in instead.

The silver-haired man tried to limit his worry, pushing a relaxed slouch into his posture, pretending like he didn't have the blaringly significant secret of 'time-traveling' to hide. He did well for the first twenty minutes, before his toes twitched nervously as his ever-running mind worried excessively about what was happening to Naruto while he was stuck in this cold, solitary room.

The Torture and Interrogation Team really knew how to do their job efficiently.

It was after those thoughts that the door to the room slide open. For a second Kakashi had expected the sight of a scarred face cover in a black bandanna, as was so characteristic of Ibiki Morino, the Head of the T and I unit that Kakashi had been familiar with. Who walked in, however, was not. Kakashi supposed it was to be expected, after quickly speeding through quick mental math to note that Ibiki would've been merely fifteen at this time - not too much older than his younger self.

Yamanaka Inoichi on the other hand, was twenty-six at the current time, at the prime of his life.

The familiar shinobi strolled in, each step carefully timed and each gesture carefully calculated. It was almost amusing how movements intended for intimidation merely gave Kakashi comfort as he recognised it being so inherently Konoha- esque. It was something even Kakashi had been taught briefly during his Anbu years.

Kakashi sat up straighter, flashing a friendly grin from under his mask. "You must be my interrogator," Kakashi commented. If Kakashi were alone, the silver-haired man would've bravely pushed the limit of his interrogator and use all he'd learned from his whole shinobi life to twist the outcome to his liking (or at least as much as he could). But he wasn't alone; Naruto was with him, and Kakashi knew he had to tread with caution.

"Hatake Kabumo," the blond greeted.

Silver haired flopped to the side as the man tilted his head, letting his voice stretch with his usual drawl, "How unusual. We have the same name." Kakashi was testing the waters.

"Amusing," Inoichi deadpanned. Green eyes stared blandly back at the silver-haired shinobi sitting before him. "Let's get straight to the point, why don't we?" Inoichi asked rhetorically, his gaze sharp as ever as they observed every gesture made in response. Kakashi held still, waiting for the man to continue, and Inoichi leaped straight into it. "What is your purpose in Konoha?"

Kakashi wasn't too certain about Inoichi's interrogation methods. By the time Kakashi had gotten to know the Intelligence Department, Ibiki had been in charge of the T and I unit. But if Inoichi had been the head before Ibiki, the younger man must have had been apprenticed under the blond for a while, so their methods couldn't've been too different. Kakashi considered the Yamanaka's attitude towards his cheeky words. If the silver-haired man was reading this right, Kakashi understood he and Naruto weren't under too much suspicion at the moment, considering the relative lack of hostility the blond was treating him with.

That, however, would likely change if Kakashi didn't cooperate with the man, or the man found something glaringly suspicious with Kakashi answers.

On a positive note, Kakashi and Naruto already had a reasonably worked out backstory ready. Their story wasn't as smooth and consistent as Kakashi had hoped for it to be, but under every-day conversation, it held relatively well. Under the pressured questions of interrogators, on the other hand, Kakashi could only hope they didn't delve too deep into it.

On the other hand, Kakashi supposed, he could always tell the truth and say that Naruto and himself were from the future. But Naruto would never admit it if Kakashi couldn't get in touch with the boy during the interrogation. The boy was a loudmouth, that was a fact, but under all that, Kakashi knew the blond would try his hardest for his sensei – and as per the latest order Kakashi had given, that was to hide the fact that they were from the future.

Besides that, Kakashi was no idiot. Between having inconsistent information or saying they were from the future, Kakashi knew which one sound more realistic, and frankly more sane. So honestly, blurting out the truth was no option. Not under these conditions where the more the Interrogation Squad thought they were lying, the greater the 'Torture' part of their name came into play. Kakashi would be damned if he let another one of his mistakes harm his precious student any more.

The silver-haired man considered his words carefully before speaking. "My purpose? As I've mentioned to the Hokage before, I came here to find my brother. I hadn't known he was … _gone_ already." Kakashi tilted his head to the side, letting his gaze stare on. He held silent for a moment before murmuring a soft, truthful, "I wish I came earlier," even though he knew he didn't have control over his travel here to this Konoha to begin with.

Inoichi seemed to accept that answer as he quickly fired another. "What are your intentions here?"

"Kakashi," the time-traveler answered unhesitantly. It was more than that, but the sake of young Kakashi was high on that list.

"Oh?"

Kakashi let his mind wander, remembering how utterly long it had taken _him_ to get where his younger self was now. He had changed after Obito's death – for the better, some had said – but it truly wasn't; outwardly maybe, but inside Kakashi had been a mess of tangled emotions that had him wanting to cut and discard the unyielding knots instead of unweaving them back into its proper place. "Sakumo's death affected my nephew more you can imagine. I suppose it's a Hatake thing to keep our emotions to ourselves, but I can't let Kakashi alone like that," Kakashi declared, conviction in his tone as he stared unflinchingly at the Yamanaka, "Narui always preached the importance of family, and it seems like he's absolutely right. Kakashi is getting better nowadays."

A blond eyebrow arched into a suspicious expression. "For Kakashi's sake, hm? You don't think we didn't know by now you've realised what happened to Sakumo?" Inoichi asked in a low voice, leaning forwards into Kakashi's space, "I suppose I wouldn't blame you too much for despising the village that vilified your brother, _Kakashi's_ father, into suicide."

The words stung personally at the time-traveler's heart, because Kakashi knew all too well how horribly the villagers had treated Sakumo. But Kakashi also knew he couldn't show Inoichi that. He treaded carefully, "I admit what had happened to my brother infuriates me, but it's not something I can argue against. According to shinobi rules, Sakumo _had _done something unforgivable …" The silver-haired man pursed his lips under his navy blue mask as haunting ghosts of voices he'd overheard twenty-so years ago echoed through the back of his mind, "so I can't blame them too harshly. Even so, I agree completely with Sakumo's decision for saving his comrades. There is more to devotion to Konoha – or any village - than blindly following set rules. Especially with the lives of important friends on the line."

"'Any village'?" Inoichi pulled out from Kakashi's speech, twisting words to his liking, "And just how many villages have you been to as a traveler, Kabumo? You're twenty-five? Thirty? You must have spent a majority of your time in various countries – perhaps a lover or two who you've devoted yourself to. Who you're willing to lie for? Willing to trick a nephew you've never seen until now for, for _their_ sake? Important people -_ important friends_ - like them?"

Grey-blue eyes narrowed slightly. "I will not use Kakashi like that. I am loyal to Konoha,"Kakashi said simply, letting a bit of metallic hardness slip into his tone.

The blond crossed his arms, a smirk on his face, smug like he'd caught the Hatake. "But rules and orders are different things, and you deliberately disobeyed direct orders from the one you claim to plead absolute loyalty to. Tell me, what did you hope to gain by leaving your post?"

Kakashi paused and let himself ponder the question. This one wasn't hard to answer. "Assuagement," the man finally said.

For a second, Inoichi looked thoughtful before the expression morphed into contemplation. "Oh, you weren't leaving to leak information on our defensive strategy to the enemy?"

"I was told nothing but my own mission, and what little that the Hokage told Minato-san while I was there. If I really was planning to leak information, all I would have been able to give anyone is incomplete and incompetent data." Kakashi's tone told clearly how useless he thought such a leak would be.

"Not a leak, huh?" the man repeated in disbelief, "So you say. But then what exactly? Can you account for your suspicious behaviour?"

"I panicked," Kakashi murmured, giving his interrogator a half-smile, stretching falsely across his face in a way that looked like he was pained by the confession. "I knew Kakashi was just promoted, and I started worrying. I'm sure Kakashi is more than capable, but after being too late for my brother, I felt paranoid – I couldn't let that happen again; I don't want to _ever_ be too late to help my last living relative ever again."

"And why was Narui with you as well?" The blond continued stoically, baring no concern to the Hatake's open discomfort.

"Because he knew how much Kakashi and Team Minato meant to me."

The man gave a calculative hum before tipping his head in a sharp nod. At once the door behind him open and two Anbus filed in silently, ending the interrogation so abruptly that it was most likely planned; it was a good way to throw the captive off balance before they got too comfortable. The two pulled Kakashi upwards by his cuffs, dragging him away as Inoichi sat unconcernedly, relaxed in his chair. Kakashi was halfway out the door when Inoichi's soft voice carried out from his spot. "I wonder if you're curious whether your student's responses mirror your own?" the blond said in a foreboding tone. Kakashi didn't know how much truth there was in that tone, or if it was mere psychological intimidation. But either way, he knew it was only a matter of time before they tried their intense methods on Naruto as well, if they hadn't already.

Kakashi hoped everything would go well.

* * *

Sitting in the cell was dreadfully dull. There was only so long Kakashi could drown himself in apprehension before the feeling eventually numbed into a throbbing pain that he could finally manageably ignore. It was a few days since his interrogation with the Yanamaka, and Inoichi clearly had no thoughts of letting Kakashi nor Naruto out anytime soon. The Hatake's days were spent in silence with no company other than the clank of metal bowels as they were deposited in front of him on occasional intervals.

So, Kakashi was left with nothing to do but sit and think, and reconsider the idea of actually being in his past like he had originally assumed – or at the very least reconsidered the idea of a linear timeline.

Days ago, back in front of the Konoha gates, Kakashi had been too happy seeing Obito walking home on his own two feet to think about anything other than the exuberant rush of happiness that was warming his whole body. Now, Kakashi had the time to run a hand under his headband feeling the long jagged scar running down his left eye. It was still there. But that didn't make sense because this time around, Obito was still alive, and young Kakashi shouldn't have this damned scar.

How did this time-traveling business work?

Kakashi still had his Sharingan, and so did Obito. There shouldn't be three copies of the same eye. As much as Kakashi was hating the conclusion that was slowing inching its way into his mind, the facts couldn't deny it.

This wasn't his past any longer.

Kakashi was interfering with – was bettering - the future of a _different_ Kakashi, a different Obito, a different Minato and Rin, and a different Konoha. …or perhaps they hadn't been different until the point where Kabumo and Nauri appeared into their lives and split the time line into two diverging futures? Kakashi didn't know.

In any case, perhaps it _was_ a good thing they weren't actually in their past. Kakashi didn't know if he could wrap his brain around the inconceivably confusing idea of time-travel paradoxes, but if this _had _been their past, then logically with it changed, there was the case that young Kakashi wouldn't have done the same things he'd done in the future, and thus not taken Naruto to the rock, and therefore wouldn't have time-traveled in the first place. Whatever that meant to his time-traveled self, Kakashi wasn't too certain, but he had an inkling that he and Naruto would've disappeared from this "past" already if a linear time line had been the case – and that would've been a distressing turn of events since they hadn't even gotten around to helping with the other major crises that were expected to occur.

But, even knowing all this, there was still a small creeping of jealousy that was clutching around Kakashi's heart at the unfairness of the whole thing – loathing the idea that whatever he or Naruto changed in this "past" would not affect their future at all. But Kakashi knew to suppress it, no matter how much it ached. It was woefully unfair, but a different Kakashi was still a Kakashi, a different Obito was still an Obito, and a different Konoha was still Konoha – at least that was what the time-traveler insistently reminded himself.

At the very least when Naruto and him returned back home – if they could … or even _would_ (because who would willingly leave someplace where their precious people were still alive and happy?) – they would have an abundance of memories to last them; which was much, much more than what they had before this whole business began.

… and, well, it was better than nothing.

* * *

"He's good," was the first thing that came out of the Yamanaka's mouth when secretary ushered the man into the Hokage's office.

"I beg your pardon?"

Inoichi paused abruptly before dropping his head. "Apologies, Hokage-sama," the man corrected, realising in his haste he had not greeted his Village Leader.

The old man, however, merely shook his head. "No, proceed with your report."

With a low bow, Inoichi continued as requested. "Kabumo, I mean," the blond specified. "He's a cunning and experienced shinobi."

"Is that so?" Sarutobi steepled his fingers in front of his contemplating face, elbows resting on his wooden desk. His mind wandered over the events that had led to their two travelers' imprisonment.

When the mission had first started, Sarutobi has suspected _something_ would happen. How could he not when the day before Kabumo stormed into his office with a face full of crazed desperation? That _something _came in the form of Kabumo and Narui abandoning their posts and fleeing towards the direction of Grass Village – where an important mission had been taking place.

And yet, after reported of this, Sarutobi still had no idea what the Hatake and his student's intentions were. The Hokage knew the two were no fools; they had to have known they were still being watched by Anbu - and especially so after that unusual pleading request Kabumo had shown (and been denied of) earlier. But despite that, they gave in to whatever urges that had inspired them, and hastily rushed off without a second thought.

So, when Kabumo was caught, the Hokage gave orders to lead them to a new post - one so daring close to where Kabumo needed to go, Sarutobi was certain the man would be crazy enough to take the chance, given his previous attitude towards the fact.

And yet, the man did nothing. This time, Kabumo and Narui had focused their whole energy into his orders instead, desperately working themselves to the bones, the Anbu in charge of watching them had recounted. For two days, the two travelers diligently completed their assigned tasks, ignoring and resisting the temptation the Hokage tried baiting them with.

As for the mission in Grass, both Minato and young Kakashi had completed their respective missions successfully. There were minor problems, but they accomplished them all the same.

This fact didn't help Kabumo's case, because the Hokage couldn't stop the idea that perhaps if Kabumo had made his way to Kusa like he had wanted to, the outcome of the mission would've been different (or at least that was the impression the Hokage had) – and what other sort of different was there other than the mission being marked as a failure instead?

How much did Konoha really know about Kabumo or Narui?

As the Hokage was pondering this to himself, Inoichi was continuing his report without fail, recounting the separate interview he had with both captives. "Narui was straight forward," the man started immediately, "And stubborn. He said what he knew, and refused to touch on the topics he didn't want to speak about, no matter what we threatened him with." The blond gave a short pause as he switched to the other man, "Kabumo on the other hand… On the surface, we obtain no additional information of interest from Kabumo, but I could tell he was calculating the smoothness and speed he was answering my questions with. Quite professionally too."

The Hokage gave an acknowledging hum, a finger tapping on his lit pipe as he considered this. But Inoichi wasn't finished yet. "But it wasn't until I dismissed him that I realised."

The words caught the Hokage's attention. The old man leaned forwards, eyes fixed on his shinobi. "Recognised what, exactly?" he asked carefully, mind already running, ready to merge the new findings to come up with new explanations to explain the mysteries that were his new guests.

"Narui didn't quite have it yet," Inoichi said, "but Kabumo … there was a distinctive pattern in his pauses and the way he squirmed around my questions. I almost didn't notice because of how familiar it was; his technique – not completely, because I'm sure some of it was his own style developed over the years – but the base structure of it was exactly the same as those taught to our shinobi in Konoha." The blond paused for a second, before finishing confidently, even over the confusion in his voice, "and if I'm certain about anything, the man was _instinctively_ using them."

The blond's declaration drew more unanswered questions, and added what seemed like even more unnecessary confusion the unfinished riddle that shrouded over the two travelers. Yet there was a slight niggling sensation, ever-fleeting whenever he tried to grasp at it, at the back of the Hokage's mind that was desperately trying to get his attention.

Inoichi continued on, "If you wish for me to continue interrogation them, I'm afraid working at Kabumo might be harder than we expected. It would be a lot easier to try to crack the boy first." Even as stoically as the blond said those words, there was an apologetic undertone to them that the Hokage could definitely pick out. If Konoha was known for anything, it was the kindness they looked after and brought up their children, and Narui, while under suspicion, had still been accepted as a member- as child - of Konoha.

Sarutobi shook his head. "Narui is a shinobi," the man said clearly, "The moment he accepted his headband, he accepted all of the dangers that the path entitled." Not that the idea pleased the Hokage any more than it did for the blond. The old man pondered his choices on how to proceed. A little while later, Sarutobi took a slow puff of his pipe in a way that almost seemed like he was stalling for time as the old man stared to the side at the large pane windows in the Hokage office. Sarutobi sighed softly to himself before turning determinately towards his shinobi. "Inoichi, I give you permission to use your mind jutsu," he said.

The Head Interrogator in front of the old man paused for a mere second. "If that is your command."

"It is," Sarutobi nodded in finality. "These two clearly are not willing to divulge any more information willingly. Narui may crack eventually if given more time to work on him, but…" But Sarutobi didn't want to break the cheerful blond into a mess of shattered shards. The boy would heal in due time, but Sarutobi would never forgive himself if whatever information they had learned in the meantime lead nowhere but towards their innocence. Forcing their way into Narui and Kabumo's minds were a violation of privacy, that was for certain, but it was better than letting them suffer in the capable hands of the Torture and Interrogation Squad for months more (and Sarutobi was certain it _would_ take that long, taking into account how tight-lipped the two were).

"I understand," Inoichi bowed, "When shall I perform my jutsu?"

"Immediately."

* * *

Kakashi didn't know how many days had passed since he'd been forced to sit in the ever-dimly lit cell he was held in. His mental clock told him it was likely starting on the fourth day, but without a window or natural sunlight, it was merely a guess on his part.

Kakashi didn't even knew if he could speculate how much longer they would keep him and Naruto in these cells. It was clearly not over yet. Kakashi was starting to wonder if perhaps telling them the truth, no matter how much more illogical it sounded than the lies he had planned, was the only way the T and I unit would let them go. Kakashi didn't want to spend any more time imprisoned in the dark, without a clue as to how Naruto was doing. And not to mention, they, with all their knowledge of the future (or should Kakashi be calling it a "likely" future now since things weren't completely the same anymore?), could get nothing done locked up, after all.

Kakashi eyes suddenly darted towards the entrance of the holding cell, hearing vibrating echoes of footsteps shuffling towards him. The man steeled himself, realising he was going to be lead to yet another interrogation. The time-traveler raised his head to look up from the sitting position he was in to meet the eyes of the new arrival, only to freeze momentarily when his grey-blue eyes were greeted with bright sunshine blond hair instead of the expected cold ceramic mask.

Instinctively, from his ingrained habits, Kakashi leaped up from his seat to military attention.

Cerulean eyes bore steadily on him. "Kabumo," Minato greeted softly, a tired drag in his tone.

"Minato-san," Kakashi said. The time-traveler discreetly shifted his weight, moving to stand into a less strict posture, trying to ignore the sense of unease building inside as his former sensei kept quiet. "Why are you here?" Kakashi finally asked.

The blond never let go of his gaze on the Hatake, his eyes silently begging the Hatake to obey. "Kabumo," the man began, "I don't know why you're doing this, but please work with Inoichi," he said without any preamble.

Kakashi blinked. "I am."

Blond eyebrows deepened into an almost irritated frown. "No you're not. Why else do you think they're still insisting to keep you locked up? Do not underestimate our interrogation squad. I know you two would never do anything against this village, I know it. But you and Narui _are_ hiding something and surely if it isn't anything harmful to Konoha, can't you tell us?"

"I would _never_ harm the village."

"I know. I don't want to see you like this." Minato stared expectingly at the other man, but Kabumo continued refusing to speak of it.

The blond sigh, resisting to urge to run a hand anxiously through his hair in exasperation. Instead, the man switched tracks, "Do you know how much this whole thing has been affecting Kakashi? He's shutting himself off from everything. It's starting to get worse than it was the first time around. Kakashi had finally decided to try trusting another person after the whole affair with his father, and once more he feels like he's been betrayed again."

Kakashi clenched his fists by his sides, feeling guilt crawl up his stomach. Minato would never know how much his words actually weighed down on Kabumo, never realising that Kabumo knew _exactly_ how little Kakashi must have been feeling.

"And they're not just interrogating you. Narui's in this too, trying to keeping back whatever it is you're trying to keep a secret. The poor boy will be scarred if you abandon him to our head interrogator so long. Don't do this to Narui!"

Kakashi knew that. Kakashi had already been dreading leaving Naruto all alone for so long, and Minato pointing out the obvious didn't make it any better. "Don't you _dare_ threaten about my student to get to me," Kakashi hiss, stress making him leak more anger into the statement than he intended to. Something about having his father figure looking down on him with such disappointment pained Kakashi a hundred burning needles worse than anything Inoichi could ever possibly do.

Minato's spine stood stiff before the man softened his posture into something placating. "I'm not," Minato murmured out gently. Lines creased the man's face as the blond leaned forwards, almost looming over Kakashi despite being separated by the iron bars of the cell. It was a gesture that one would think was supposed to be frightening, but with the two, Minato's stance eclipsing over Kakashi was more one of comfort, like standing protectively over an agitated child. "Please, Kabumo. I'm worried for him. I'm worried for Kakashi. I'm worried for _you_. Just tell them everything, please." Hands tightened by Minato's sides as if unsure of what to do, as the man stared pleadingly into the cell. "What is there to lose?" the blond as rhetorically, watching the Hatake stare past him in a distanced gaze, "It's not like things can get any worse."

And those were probably not the best words to choose, for at that exact moment, a scream echoed through the air. Angry red chakra curled, lashing into the corridors, the cell, and everything around, like a toxic flood. The chakra howled out, bursting with violent anger, whipping through the building like nine tails of the Kyuubi himself.

It was thick and ominous, strangling and chocking the breaths out of the two of them like a thick air of mustard gas. It was evil, and oh-so familiar, Kakashi couldn't hold back his shudder. And Kakashi wasn't the only one; both men recognised it immediately.

"Kushina?" Minato whispered out loud, more to himself than anything thing else, fear leaking into his tone.

_No,_ Kakashi thought to himself. It wasn't, but Minato was close. And honestly, "I think things just got worse," he muttered. _Much, much worse._


End file.
